Mimi wrote:
Maybe he's not looking forward to going back to school and wants to spend a little more of the last few days of his time with his mum and dad? Hopefully it isn't because he is scared of going back to school for any worse reasons, but it might be worth having a gentle talk with him, just in case he is being bullied, teased or feeling left out at school.
Hope you have an easier night tonight, Malc.
I don't think it's about being bullied (we're pretty on top of that sort of thing). He suffers from Asperger's Syndrome and doesn't like change. He also has trouble seeing things from other peoples points of view, he couldn't see how what he was doing last night was unfair on Pauline and I, only that he was upset and that he didn't want to go to bed in that room. (I suspect the acceptance of going to bed with the lamp was because he was getting too tired to fight, and that by getting the lamp in his room he was able to "save face" by getting what he wanted)
He's going through a phase at the moment where he really can't see why things shouldn't be anything other than exactly how he wants them. I guess that's pretty standard behaviour for children approaching puberty, but with Owen it borders on the dangerous, especially when outside with him, and he decides that rather than listen to Pauline or me, that he will do what he wants to regardless, and storms off in a huff. I'd normally just say ignore him, he'll come back, but with Owen he's so stubborn that he wouldn't.
The thing is, in the cold light of day he's fine, he realises he's been silly, and is all apologetic and stuff, but then the next time he's "in the moment" the blinkers come on and he can't be reasoned with, you either do it his way, or put up with him being in a huff for the rest of the day. He's not aware of dangers at the best of times, but when he's like that he just doesn't notice anything. There was one time in Plymouth where he was walking ahead off in a huff, and he just walked out into the road without stopping, or looking. He would have been knocked over if the driver wasn't completely on the ball.
EOR
Malc