The Squealing Child

Aidan has after school care on certain nights of the week. On Thursdays he goes to a centre where he stays through tea time, and gets picked up around 7:30pm. We are currently trialling this, and it isn't without hiccups.

Tonight, when I got home, Aidan greeted me with "I have to be a good boy."
"What happened?" I asked.
No immediate response. Then "I have to be a good boy."

Then Anth piped up. "He was terrible at care. He was squealing."
"What do you mean squealing?"

That's when the story came out. Apparently, he has a problem with the other kids being picked up earlier from the centre. So much so, that they take him to a "time out" room to try to keep him settled. Tonight, he alledgedly spent a significant amount of time squealing at his carer. When Anth went to pick him up, he ran out to greet Anth as though nothing had happened, but the carer looked like crap. When questioned, he said that Aidan was very poorly behaved, and he kept making the squealing sound. That's when Anth said, "What sound?", and Aidan promptly squealed.

When Anth told me this, she added "And then I ripped through him."
"Who, the carer?" I responded.
"No, Aidan."
"Why Aidan, the Carer should have been responsible. If we'd never heard that sound, then why did Aidan get to that state?"
"No, it was Aidan."

Now, Anth knows Aidan better than anyone, and once she explained that Aidan was doing it to get attention, that it became clearer what he was probably up to.

I'm not sure what to do now. Aidan likes going to the care centre, but if he behaves like this, we won't be able to let him go. That has a bad effect on everyone. Hopefully he'll get over this phase, but we shall see.

Ciao for Now, Non-squealing Angry Dad.