what is "severe", and when does he give you attitude? I actually allow my kids to have SOME "attitude" with me, to a degree, as long as they are complying with what I ask of them, and are not being rude. Basically, I call it having emotions. They are allowed to be upset or angry with me and I really don't see an issue with that. At NO POINT are they allowed to yell at me, or even raise their voices at me. They always have to do as they are told, and need to be polite. They do, and that does not mean that they don't have very angry looks on their faces while they are cleaning their things up, or are shutting off their video games, or doing whatever I told them to do. They cannot be openly rude, and they DO know the difference. My opinion is that there are MANY times when I am upset, angry, or displeased with a situation in MY life when I have to do something that I really may not want to do, and I do it, but I may not look like I want to do it. (or I may say that I don't feel like doing it) I just do it and I am not rude or beligerent about it. Children need to be able to express feelings too, at least in my opinion. It's all part of growing up and learning to cope in the world. They also learn how to do for others when you want to do for yourself. (putting others needs FIRST) That has been a very important lesson in my home, and one that all of my kids are mastering quite well so far. I guess I would need more info about when and how your son is displaying his attitude before I could really give my personal opinion on how to handle that.
Just remember that whatever you DO decide to do, you MUST BE CONSISTENT!! I have completely emptied my 9 yr old daughters room of everything but her bed and clothing because she was not doing her school work and refused to focus on her work, and it took her over 4 months to "earn" it all back. I was not going to give in and just hand anything back to her. She was SO upset when she walked into her bedroom and saw that it was empty, but I told her if she didn't change her attitude about the school work, I was going to empty the bedroom, and I had to follow through. The other thing was that she had continually said that my husband and I never bough her anything, and she didn't have any "cool" toys. (she was spoiled) Well, once the room was empty, she could really TRULY appreciate all that she did once have. It was a very rough few months, because she was bored to death, but it taught her to value what she has, and that Mom means what she says. She made sure to focus on her school work during the day, and took care of her things in her bedroom. I wish you the best!
