My 8 year old step son is a WONDERFUL boy when he wants to be, but has issues making correct choices in his life! I have been with his father since he was just turning 4 and there have been some ongoing issues we've been dealing with. My step son's biological mother left my husband and their son when he was only 1 year old for another man. Since then, my husband has had physical placement of him and has been doing a wonderful job as a single dad. I've seen that Casey has ongoign issues with stealing, lying, back talk, dirty looks, etc. We have been living together for 3 years now (married for 7 months) and have been working hand in hand with his teachers (he's now in 2nd grade) trying to find effective ways to keep him on a positive path. His mother has been involved also, but not always in a positive way. They have basically 51/49% custody so she gets him for a good chunk of time. We are both affraid this hasn't always been a positive thing-we've witnessed (and documented) her lying to not only my husband and I, but also to their son MANY times (and he recognizes that "mom lies"). We also heard that she was fired several years ago from her job for stealing money out of the cash register. I'm sure he sees these bad examples on a regular basis and we believe this could be why he doesn't see the importance of what we're trying to get him to understand. He's made comments that he wishes I was his mom and we always let him voice his frustration with whatever is on his mind and just not comment when it's about his mom. On good days, we are a very loving family unit, but my husband and I do stand strong and support each other when we need to. We have been taking him to see a therapist on a semi-regular basis and it does seem to help--for a while. His mother took him for the 1st visit but has never taken him since, even when the therapist has asked her to--so she can be up to speed with us. When Casey gets upset, it just snowballs until he is basically out of control--i.e. this morning he was caught lying and it snowballed to a HUGE temper tantrum, mouthing back and making comments that "I'm just a bad stepson, I know". We have NEVER said this to him, and always correct it to say we love him no matter what, but he does make some bad decisions. I physically walked him into school today and he actually started banging his head on his desk until I got him calmed down. I wanted to give his teacher a heads up about the morning so she was aware of his chosen behavior. His teacher has been wonderful this year, but we are all at a loss for what to do now. We've tried SO many different types of rewards and punishments, but it just doesn't seem to get thru to him! He just doesn't show people respect! We are still contemplating going for full custody, but we're not sure that would even help or just make it worse. We love this little boy dearly, but just can't seem to get thru to him. Please let me know if you have any opinions or ideas! HELP US PLEASE!!!