like father like son. you should both go to counceling. anger management for one. the cops would separate you from your kid. and send you both to anger management.

Okay first of all, I didn't get to add: This is extremely out of character for him, since he’s never done anything like this, or anything even remotely bad for that matter. He’s a very shy and quiet kid and he’s had trouble making friends. I’ve asked him again and again why he did it and he claims it was because “he had to” and will not give me anymore details. I’ve asked the child what happened and he says that my son “got really angry for no reason and started throwing sand at people”, no other details. I’ve asked his teacher what the other kids said and apparently my son really did just “get angry for no reason”. I am extremely reluctant on sending him to counselling because he’s only eight. His teacher and the child’s mother is insisting on it and I feel like I have no choice. I’m worried that this might be the start of more incidents, but I don’t want to force him into anything. After the incident, I did send him to a counsellor but the problem was he didn’t enjoy it at all and refuses to go back. I’ve tried numerous ways to get him to go into the car with me but he seems to have figured out that everytime we go in the car, its to the doctor. Recently, even before the incident, that he’s been acting peculiar (i.e, eating only applesauce and cereal, feeling tired more often, wanting more “alone time”) I’ve spoken to the counsellor myself and he’s insisting to do the sessions at home. I have absolutely no idea what to do. I really don’t want to force him to do something he doesn’t want to do in case it makes the problem worse; but I’m thinking if I don’t force him to do it that’ll make the problem worse. I’m really hoping to hear an answer/opinion from another parent on this.

I'm going to assume your kid is a highschooler, otherwise I dunno. Personally, I would set him to ground zero. Basically what this means is it's a home version of Boys Town. You take away LITERALLY everything. LITERALLY. Clothes, food, mattress EVERYTHING. You replace his clothes with crappy ones (assuming he's a label whore..like me xD). Give him whatever you think is the worst for him. Food, I guess you could decide what changes you want to make to your lifestyle to decide what food you take away. Give him 2 blankets and a pillow instead of a mattress. Basically, set him up to where he has NOTHING. No phonecalls to friends, nothing. And he earns his stuff back slowly through good behavior. Counselling wouldn't be a bad idea to throw into there too...

Your 8 year old is a brat. Just like I was when I was 8. If my mother had forced me to go to my doctor I may have turned out better. Later down the road I was diagnosed bi-polar. I think the best thing you could do is to make him see the doctor. He'll hate it for now, and it's probably because he doesn't understand whats wrong with him. But in time, he'll thank you for it. Hang in there.