I'm standing outside Gavin's bedroom door quietly listening to him have an enormous, violent tantrum..
I was outside with the two E's and Gavin was giving Lizze a hard time.
I brought everyone back into the house and sent them upstairs with a snack so I could help Lizze.
Gavin was still being uncooperative and I finally had it and told him that he would not be going anywhere tonight. He needs to learn to treat his mother with respect before he gets to go have fun at Grandma's house.
The second he heard that, it was on.
He went from zero to tantrum in nothing flat. He immediately took to stomping his feet and screaming. When I say stomping his feet I mean *shaking the entire house*.
We tried a few things to contain the violence but nothing worked.
The next thing I had to do was get him into his room so he was isolated from rest of the family. He refused to go upstairs and after having him begin to scream in my face, I did something that took him totally by surprise.
I picked him up, through him over my shoulder and carried him to his room, all while he tried to pound me in the back with his fists.
I deposited him onto his mattress and reminded him of the tantrum rules.
There was no point in trying to get him to listen because he was too pissed off that he was staying home.
He began punching his wall, which is his *go to* thing now to show us he's angry. He kicked his desk so hard he knocked the drawers off their tracks and so I removed them from his room for safety reasons.
Lizze in the meantime had gotten the E's downstairs and distracted from the drama. At one point, Gavin actually was on his stomach, screaming, kicking his feet and hitting the floor with his fists. It was the stereotypical *temper tantrum *that you would expect from a 2 or 3 year old.
I'm writing this down because I want this accurately documented while it's fresh in my mind.
Please don't confuse this with the more "typical" meltdowns, common with autistic kids. This is not sensory related and was nothing more than a very violent temper tantrum.
What a friggin fantastic way to start the weekend.
Residential placement for Gavin can't happen soon enough. We have some very real safety concerns not to mention the physical and emotional wellbeing of everyone else to worry about.
As much as it sucks to say this, Gavin needs to be away, at facility that can help him to overcome these violent behaviors. That can't happen at home and we can't have him here much longer.
I think that having to use physical force to contain these outbursts means we have reached a point that we are no longer capable to handling him at home. I do think want to have to physically carry him to his room and once that line is crossed, where do things go from there. I know some people do that have an issue with responding to a situation like this with *nonviolent *physical force.
However, in my opinion, one you cross that line, it's easier to lose your cool and the more aggressive the child is likely to become.
This absolutely blows. I hate this and wouldn't wish it on anyone.
*This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsungs Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct hate me.*
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