DC with anxiety provocations and plausible deniability

[Anonymous]

Any other parents have a child with anxiety who does things to provoke you but does so in a way that DC always has plausible deniability that he/she hasn't done anything wrong? It's like my child finds a way to convey that we aren't in charge - but DC always does it in a way that DC can deny doing anything wrong....when you call DC out on it, DC says we "always assume the worst." Sigh. We really are willing to give the benefit of the doubt in most cases, but there are some situations where you have to be completely dense not to see what's happening.

Our child's therapist recommending increasing positive attention, but are there other ways to deal with this kind of behavior? We'd welcome advice from someone who has had similar experiences.

[Anonymous]

Can you offer specific examples? It's really hard to understand what you mean.

[Anonymous]

If I am understanding what you mean, yes we did have some of this with my oldest. We treated it as though it was a lie - which it is - and confronted every single time. Eventually he got that we weren’t going to be conned. And, I’m sorry but I don’t get how positive attention is the answer to this.

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand the situation either but I’m general, “time in” has been a huge factor in improving behavior in my anxious kids. Can you give a specific example of what’s happening?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about either. Examples and age of child would help.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you a lawyer?

[Anonymous]

Perhaps your child is right that you are assuming the worst. At the very least, your constant suspicion you are being manipulated and provoked by someone else's behavior is something to question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps your child is right that you are assuming the worst. At the very least, your constant suspicion you are being manipulated and provoked by someone else's behavior is something to question.

I agree with this. In general, I find the frequent assumption that a child is doing something to manipulate someone a bad look.

But I also have no idea what OP is talking about--an example would be useful.

[Anonymous]

How old is the child?