Unacceptable behaviors

[esther267]

Hello Dr.:

My son is turning in October  8 years old.   for the last 3 weeks his behavior is very agressive with words., swear all time , doest listen to me and defense himself for every event ocurring in home and in public.dont want to do houseshores,. ignore me 100% .I have tried time outs,..punishments.,, spanks which i hate to do it,,..cause my parents didnt do it to me... hes having problems of behavior in summer camp and got suspended 1 day .., and now he is saying very bad words.,, and he  isolates in his bedroom ..,, locking himself,..etc.   As a single mother ,,,.I dont know what else can I do.

Please, can you help me to find out what my son wants to tell me??  or is this normal?  
Thank you for your time..

Esther

[Sandman2]

   If he did not have this problem before and it only started when summer camp started - then it might very well be the cause.  There is something going on there that has him highly stressed out.  I think you really need to closely question the people at summer camp about what is going on.  Also see if he will tell you if he is being picked on or abused at this summer camp.
   Of course, if this problem went on during the regular school year, then allmymarbles suggestions are right on.
    And it just may be that summercamp is very new to him.  He has no friends there and hates it, etc.  Getting him to talk about it will help.  Doing something special when he comes home or spending some special time with him could be very helpful too.

[allmymarbles]

Misbehaving is, of itself, not abnormal, but it is detrimental to a child's development. His growing aggression, if left unchecked, can have serious repercussions. You have to find out why he is so ill behaved and for this you might need to talk to an expert. Just the fact of being a single mother with an only child, although decidedly difficult, is not sufficient to explain the problem.  Get some help.