I learned (the hard way! :D) that talking over my kids makes me nothing more than their puppet. I walked this path with my oldest and I will tell you what worked. As few words as possible, cheerfully and calmly expressed. I was zen like every Buddhist monk I have ever seen in the movies. :tongue_smilie: I had iced tea, lots of it. And I was right there next to him, engaged with reading, writing, grocery ad/list compiling, tongue-biting... "What, sweetie? You are still on your first page of math? That's OK. I have all the time in the world." Unaffected. I was the very picture of unaffected.
^^^^^
Thanks, Kristina! This worked for me yesterday, except I had coffee, and lots of it!