My son recently turned 3 and has been attending a daycare in a country we don’t speak the language for 2 years now.
As soon as he turned 3 it was like every behavior problem began. He no longer can fall asleep without one of us in the same room as him. He’s been waking at 2am and is up for sometimes 90 minutes with nothing we can do to calm him down. He used to have no sleep issues, and we’d read a couple books and leave him to drift off on his own. Most nights he’d even tell us to leave him when he gets sleepy because he preferred to fall asleep alone. Not anymore.
At school he’s started exhibiting violent behavior. He’s been shoving other kids and laughing when they get hurt. From what I’ve heard from his teachers, it’s been unprovoked. He usually plays on his own and then suddenly runs and shoves kids.
He speaks very clearly in full sentences since he turned 2 and I’m thinking it’s a communication frustration problem since they only speak the local language at school and not English. I thought my son spoke enough of the local language, but he switches completely to English when he’s at home. He’s very sweet at home, but occasionally does hold his hands up like he’s going to hit when he’s frustrated.
We’ve been trying to communicate empathy and not hurting his friends. He loves animals and shows a lot of empathy and gentleness when he comes across them, but for some reason he is mean with his peers. He does not witness any violence or contention at home. He is not allowed screens, the most he ever has is a movie on the weekends only and it’s like the 70s Winnie the Pooh movie and Cars. He has never touched an iPad or phone.
I’m getting frustrated with the constant daycare messages about this and am trying my best to resolve this at home. When I pick him up I make sure to tell him not to push friends, it makes them sad, and show him to give hugs or take a deep breath to calm down. I guess I’m wondering if this is just a developmental phase or if there’s something more I can be doing.