7yr old bedtime issues

My 7 yr old son over the past few months "plays up at bedtime" especially when he knows Dad is not home.
If watching tv i'll say it's bedtime and he asks for more time, i say no (always calmly) and turn tv off and state it;s time for bed.  When we go upstairs he'll start messing about sometimes saying unkind things and kicking.  When i ask him why he's been like this he says it's because i;m softer with him than dad but i'm the one that gets all this nonsense from him and not dad !  I know children often play one parent off against the other..... when he gets to bed he can be sometimes bossy and tells me to tickle his back, which i do.  I've told him that this nonsense is going to stop, i just wish bedtime would be a nice experience, we read books and chat as well which we both really enjoy but when i say it's now time to go to sleep he plays up again, not all the time but most of it.  What should i be saying am i being too soft with him ???

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You didn't mention anything about discipline. If you set a limit and then do not enforce it, you are inviting exactly what is happening. Your son's statements indicate that he needs you to be more firm with him.