4 Year Old's Recent, Drastic Behavior change....what's Going On?

I think it's somewhat normal. Is he 4.5? When my daughter and her friends hit 4.5, they all started doing uncharacterististic things. My daughter started name calling, throwing mad tantrums, etc. it was all shocking. But that's the point: dr Ames says this is a super emotional age, and they play with the extremes.

A friend of mine's son hit her LOTS, but he is the type to get violent when frustrated.

It all calmed down around their bday. Meanwhile, zero tolerance, sent to room for anti-social behavior, no TV with name calling in it, etc.

Night and day change such as that is not a stage. Something must have happened to him or in your household to change him so drastically.

When my son was 4 he would have never come up with the name "dumb s***". Where did he learn that term? Figure that out and go from there.

What has changed?

- Food. Is there a differnet food? Summer food, Ice Cream, chocolate , watermelon, etc.. Food can change them like this.

Allergy to a food can change a personality, just the same as external signs like rash or ezcema. My Brother used to get Mean like that with Chocolate, so does my son.

Do your best not to show emotion **Easier said than done**. Keep consistante and firm.

Good luck.

Any new meds? Allergy meds can do this.

This sounds pretty extreme. I would try to figure out what is causing it. Maybe even take him to the pediatrician. Is there anything that has changed in his life recently? I would investigate whats going on at school, daycare or with other people he is around. He's old enough that you could talk to him about it when he is calm. Good luck.

Has he been getting enough sleep? Are his eating habits about the same?

I think it sounds like he's overtired. Have things been particularly busy lately? Has he had some late nights? When my 4 year old starts acting like this (and it does happen sometimes), it usually means he's not getting enough sleep. He no longer naps, so it means getting through the day and really trying to get him to bed early. This is not something that's always easy to do, as 4 year olds tend to have minds of their own. But I do my best to get him to bed earlier.

If your son is anything like mine, control is a big deal. He likes to do everything himself, so patience is a must.

If you haven't seen a change in his eating habits and you think he's getting enough sleep, a call to his ped is not a bad idea. It does sound like he's not feeling like himself.

Good luck! I'm sure things will start to get better soon.

Yeah my recently turned 4 year old has morphed into this as well. I am just being super firm and really consistent - talking to him about every infraction.

Talk to the pediatrician and get a checkup just in case. Make sure he's not sick or in some kind of pain or something.

See if you can get him to talk about stuff when he's NOT upset. He may not be able to put it into adult words, but he's old enough to give you some info to help him.

How much time does he spend with the 18 year old? Not to be paranoid, but if your older child has such bad judgement as to be swearing like that in front of the baby, I'd be wondering what other bad choices he might be making and thinking it was no big deal.

If you only just started staying at home, maybe the schedule thing is throwing him off, but if you've been off since the end of school and he just started acting like this, I would be wondering what's going on as well.