My sons "weird" behaviour

[Silverrainraven]

My son will act like he doesnt know how to do simple things, even though he does. He is overly sensitive, if he doesnt get his way, he gets dark and moody, and says weird things, or moves weird, i don't know how to explain it. Well be watching a movie together, the kids camping out in the living room, and I'll look over at him and he'll be squirming on his back with his head under the pillow. This morning, probably because he got frustrated with trying to tie his shoes, he comes out with the whole thing hanging out, just one end hanging in, so i ask him why he did that he said cause he couldnt tie it.  Sometimes he'll give silly dumb/answers to homework problems, when I know he knows it. He says "I can have...?"instead of "Can I have...? Tonight at dinner, he asked for something else, i said no, i made you such and such, he does some weird body movement with his hands and a smile/grimace, and i tell him to stop. He goes back to eat, takes a bite, and then goes to throw it away, i ask why, he said he didnt like it, which is a lie, its one of his favorites, so he goes back when i tell him to eat and stares at his plate, hanging his head pointedly over his food, he sees i notice and starts to eat. i go back to what i'm doing, and imhear my 6 and 8 yr old girls telling him that hes dropping food, hes sitting back eating, food on his shirt, and on the floor. he sits up and throws his head dramatically from side to side "where! where!" like he doesnt know. I go through this sort of thing with him alot every day. If he gets in trouble, we ask why he did whatever got him in trouble, he'll say "cause i'm a bad boy?" pry cause we've told him before when he got in trouble in the past. But he is at the same time a VERY sweet boy, wanting hugs all the time. I dont know if he just wants attention, or if something is wrong with him. I dont want to get upset with him if these are things he cant control.

[Sandman2]

  I agree with the positive/negative attention.  As the only boy in the family, he either gets a lot more or not enough.  If he is younger than his sisters, he is probably used to getting a lot of their attention.  If he is the oldest, they probably have been getting more attention then him.  How old is he?

[margypops]

Could it be famliy even his sisters are consistantly getting on his case, and its always negative ,it reads as if that is happening, and he is reacting to it, maybe an idea to focus on his positive side and praise him when you see him doing something right, ask his sisters not to make comments about him when he is eating.You hit the nail on the head in my opinion, when you said 'I dont know if he just wants attention,' my answer is yes, thats exactly it, positive attention, all hes getting is negative attention.and thats better than none,  Get his Dad doing guy things with him, make sure its not all about the girls...Good luck