What to do when your 7-year-old defies teachers and disrupts class
Young children pushing back against authority and refusing to participate leave parents caught between wanting to preserve their child's confidence and stopping disruptive classroom behavior. When kids start talking back or ignoring teachers, parents struggle to find the right approach to reach them without shutting down their personality.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Grounding from TV
- 2Making the child do more school work at home
- 3Having honest conversations about the importance of school
- 4Working with the child on following directions and paying attention at home.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“She is in the first grade. Her teachers have told me that it is hard to get her to participate in class. That she does not pay attention and has even said “I don’t want to and I don’t have to”.”source ↗
“I don’t know what to do.”source ↗
“She’s just been pushing and pushing and challenging authority lately.”source ↗
“I don’t know what the best way to reach her is anymore.”source ↗
“Following because my 7 year old is like that too.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 6Why does my kindergartener hate reading and shut down?
- 6Why does my child behave at school but act out at home?
- 4What to do when your elementary schooler refuses to do homework
- 13How to handle an out of control kindergarten class
- 6Preschooler refusing to follow rules and leaving the classroom
- 4Why do parents get mad about minor rules but ignore failing grades?