Question: I have two children, a daughter of 11, who is well-behaved and never gives us any trouble, and a son of 8 years old who seems to make up for her.
He was always a good sleeper but for the past two years or so he insists on the TV being on loud downstairs so he can ‘get to sleep’ but then wakes up about an hour after he has gone to sleep crying and screaming and saying he hasn’t been to sleep. He comes looking for me when he wakes up and gets really angry when I take him back to bed. If I get in with him he goes straight to sleep but wakes up crying and shouting if I get out and go back to my bed. It causes so much stress in the family and no matter what punishment he gets it makes no difference (Xbox confiscated, no football, that kind of thing). When he finally gets to sleep, after hours of taking him back and trying to calm him down, he comes through first thing in the morning and apologizes, saying how sorry he is and that he loves me. I also think that this is now affecting his school work and he has gone from being very intelligent to not caring about school and a disruptive influence.I have taken him to the doctors to make sure there is nothing wrong with his health and he is fine. He is very active and plays for a football team each week, as well as football training and swimming a couple of nights a week. I really don’t know what to do to help him past this stage.