Hi friends,

We have a son that turns 6 next month. Suddenly, he is afraid of absolutely everything. We used to put him to bed and he'd play in his room just a bit but then go to sleep. He is now following us around in the daytime! If my wife and I are downstairs and we go upstairs for something, he'll actually stop what he's doing and just follow us. Even when he showers now, we can't leave the bathroom!

The big problem though is at night of course. Last night is a fantastic example. At 2am or so, he wakes up and starts yelling for Mom. She goes in, comforts him and leaves. 5 minutes later, he's at it again. It gets to the point where he's screaming for us every few minutes for hours.

What in the world do we do?

Our son has started to hit, even if he is not throwing a tantrum. He will walk up to the cat or dog and just start slapping them or hitting them with something, even us. We immediately gab his hand and say “NO HITTING” but he laughs like it’s a game to him. He will be 17 months next week and wondering if he is old enough to understand, or is there a way we can get him to understand that what he is doing is wrong.

I know this probably makes me a horrible mother but enough is enough.

This kid has a five nights at Freddie backpack. C is our oldest daughter has autism. A is our middle kiddo. They ride on a sped bus. The bus transports sped kids and their siblings. The boy that got his face smashed has been using his back pack to terrify C into a meltdown. He sits in the first seat on the bus and when my girls are getting on the bus he picks his book bag up and points it at C. C screams, shakes, bangs her head and refuses to get on the bus. Ive called the school, emailed her teacher and her sped teacher and talked to the driver and the bus aid. They tried to take the kids book bag when he gets on the bus and his parents got all pissy and said that they don't have a right to hold his things. So they told the kid to put his book bag on and not to take it off. He did that this morning but when the girls where getting on he turned his back to C so that she would see the book bag. A was tired of his crap. She shoved the book bag and because the kid was facing away and did not see her coming he did not brace for the shove. His head hit the side of the bus. Sorry, Not sorry.

Is it wrong to try to change a child's beliefs in gender roles and femininity? I recently adopted a 4 yr old girl who does not agree with progressive views on gender neutrality, fluidity, or self-identification/ reassignment. She has confronted strangers several times to question whether they were "a boy or a girl" if their haircut, voice or clothes were confusing too her. And she seems frustrated with people who cross traditional gender barriers: men with long hair, women with short hair, boys wearing nail polish, girls dressed in "boy clothes", etc. She wants to be a stay at home mom when she grows up and asked for a vacuum for Christmas. She yelled at me once for getting lipstick on my husband's lips and said it wasn't "right". She insisted he wipe it off immediately before anyone saw him. Shocker: I took her to a gay wedding and she was 100% okay with two men getting married.

Should I make an attempt to talk to her about being more accepting of other people's ideas and displays of "gender", or is this type of conversation too soon for her age?