ONLINE PARENTING COACH

"I have bought your ebook and wanted your advice. I spilt from my partner 2 years ago, and my eldest son who is 13 nearly 14 stayed with his dad. The problem I have is our son is out of control, and I feel helpless, as my son is just how you describe, and his dad is exactly how you describe. I do punishments and follow them through, but how can I get his dad to see that him giving our son whatever he wants is the cause for his behaviour -- and is not because his dad and I parted. His dad can say he is grounded, but then lets his friends sleep over. I'm at my wits end with worry and feel so helpless. When I was with my ex, this was always a big problem, because whenever I said no, it would be "I’ll ask dad ...he will let me" -- and yes he would. Any help or advice would be great. Many thanks A." __________________________ Hi A., There are two things that will happen: 1.Dad (your ex) will be on the same page as you …or 2.Dad will NOT be on t...

My son was just recently diagnosed ODD, although I suspected for quite some time. Is there ever a time where it is too late to begin these techniques? Things are escalating here and there has been some drinking and smoking marijuana. He has disappeared in his car for 8 hrs before and he ran away Friday night -- the police found him after 3 hours and brought him home. He shows no remorse for this and I've found on his website that he almost brags about it -- a badge of honor of sorts. I am truly at my wits end as I don't know where to go with this behavior. We have contemplated sending him to a residential treatment facility, however, those are very pricey and I would prefer to keep him in the home and "fix" everything. I don't want to be unrealistic, I just want my "baby" back. I need to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel!! Thanks for your help! _____________________ Hi C., There is NEVER a time where it is too l...

"My son is soon to be 16 years. I had to finally exclude him from my family home 10 months ago on police advice. My daughter and I had been living in fear of him. We had been subjected to his domestic violence and abuse. I could not protect my daughter and I could not protect myself any longer. He has been living in private foster care near to our home, which I pay for. He is at private school, which I have continued to pay for to 'keep part of his life in order'. For the past 3 years my son believed that he had to 'teach me a lesson' which was to threaten his family group with violence, aggression and irrational control. At 13 he decided that he wanted a life on 'the streets', which does not fit with the civilised culture he was raised with. But he got his way and despite numerous initiatives to address his defiance and abuse, he continued to pursue his desires. I have engaged, worked with, researched and despaired with police, psychologis...

Mark, I came upon your site when searching for support group for parents of bipolar children. I have 2 sons 12 & 15. They are running over me because I just do not know what else to do. I am ready to give up. They fight constantly. I am a single parent & HAVE ACTUALLY THOUGHT OF RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME! How can your program help!? _______________________ Hi Kim, My program is an online parent support group with several additional components. In my day job, I work with teens and pre-teens who are experiencing emotional and behavioral problems associated with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, ADHD and Bipolar Disorder. I also work with their parents. When parents of these children use a specific set of unique parenting strategies (which I talk about in my book), they are quite successful at helping their child behave appropriately both at home and school. You may download my book here: myoutofcontrolteen.com You get an online version ...

Mark, Thanks so much for your comments. I have shared these with my husband and do agree with much of your advice and opinion. We have tried in this past week to do as you advised about having me be more of the disciplinarian and my husband take more of a quieter role. He is so bitter and angry all the time. I have had more conversation with my son about him moving out and I did discover it's not just from our home he wants to move from it is from the area we live in. He hasn't told me what exactly is going on but he has shared that he wants a clean start to get away from the problems he has in Green Bay. I have told him that running away from the problems won't solve anything and they eventually will just catch up to him. He likes to blame us for a lot of his problems but I think he is just angry with himself and it comes across like he is angry at us. I found some medication missing in our cabinet and I asked him about this and he said he didn...

GOOD EVENING, I AM ON PAGE 25 of "My Out-of-Control Teen" eBook. I UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE DONE WRONG AND THAT HAS PUT ME IN THE PLACE I AM NOW. BOTH MY TEENS KNOW HOW TO BREAK ME AND GET WHAT THEY WANT. I CANNOT KEEP A POKER FACE AND GET VERY, VERY UPSET. NOT SURE IF I AM ABLE TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THE DIRECTIONS. WILL BE VERY HARD. ALSO BOTH MY TEENS WILL GO IN A RAGE ATTACK, WHICH I WOULD LIKE MORE INFO ON HOW TO HANDLE THEM. DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON RAGE? IT REALLY SCARES ME. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. ~ T. _________________ Hi T., I respectfully disagree with you when you say you cannot keep a "poker face" (i.e., showing no expressions of being upset or angry, because if you do, you are showing a sign of weakness to your teenager - and then he will know he has you in the palm of his hand). But you are not alone with this belief. Many people believe that wearing a poker face is impossible (i.e., showing no emotion when things are going w...

Question: My daughter is 16 years old. I have had a lot of problems with her. She thinks she's her own boss. She goes in and out of the house without permission. Finally, after a lot of things that I have tried with her, I told her that if she was going to do whatever she wants, do not ask me for nothing. She kept on doing the same behavior. Last night, I called her at 2:30 am, first she told me she was on her way to the house. I called again around 3:00 and she said she was going at a friend's house that she will be home in 30 more minutes. I got so mad, I told her that I was going to close the doors. She said, “fine I’ll sleep at one of my friend's house.” I said ok but it will be forever. When she asked why, I said “because you don't listen to me,” and I hung up the phone. This morning I disconnected her cell. When I came back from work, she was here grabbing her clothes. This is not the first time that she leaves the house. I am so tired of h...

Hi D, I'm going to respond to your email point-by-point. Please look for these arrows: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Our son does improve for a while, but then all of the sudden he will get back into this rebellious stage. He has a really hard time communicating and getting along with his father. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Is father a lot like son with respect to temperament? Does father use an authoritarian mode (i.e., my way or the highway approach) in relating to your son ? We all live in the same household, but now he says he wants to move out. He is 16 and will be 17 in December. He is a Junior in high school and does very good in sports. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I think it would be good to begin having regular conversations with your son about how exciting his future...

I just wanted to share some wonderful emails from members of Online Parent Support: “OPS is very thorough and has helped me and my family immensely. My husband and I have a better understanding now! Since completing the program, my son Jonathon has brought his grades up 35%, and he is getting praise from teachers. The Assistant Principal wrote a letter describing improvements in Jonathan’s behavior and gave it to me at the parent-teacher conference.” ````````````````````````````````````````````` “We thank everyone involved with this program. We are using the techniques we have learned on ALL of our children, not just the one we were having trouble with.” ````````````````````````````````````````````` “I found OPS very helpful, even though our child was already in placement at a juvenile facility. Wish we had taken this course years ago.” ````````````````````````````````````````````` “I looked forward to...