Does he live alone and has,he become used to a quiet, controlled environment (i.e. antithesis of life with a five year old boy)? My mom raised three wild kids and handled it just fine but once she and my step-dad retired and those years with young kids were far, far behind them they had a hard time with the chaos, noise and unpredictability if their grandkids. They were used to a very quiet him and their usual routines, and they had a lower threshold for the energy if my young kids. It's gotten better now that my kids are older.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A child can be rambunctous by nature but mannerable. Have you taught him manners?

yes, we can probably work more on manners. It would help some. And he's old enough now.

My children were always taught manners, appropriate and inappropriate behavior, from the very beginning. It's made it so much easier now that they are 4 and 6yo. They don't know any other way. I have never allowed, "yeah." I demand, "Yes, Mommy." They refer to my friends as "Aunt" So and So. I have always pointed out how others are behaving so they can model it. For example, "See how everyone is sitting in their chairs?" or "See, nobody touches the paintings. We don't touch art, baby."

You should get started on appropriate behavior straight away. Not judging, I think the answer is right there. To some extent you seem to agree with your father. There's some middle ground there. Find it.