ONLINE PARENTING COACH

Brian Sullivan, 19, of Chili, NY has been missing since July 8. Has anyone seen him!? Online Parent Support

Mark- You have given us so much relief by responding to our questions. Thank you very, very much. Your ebook is great, and we can't tell you how much we appreciate your dedication to teaching parents how to deal with difficult kids, like the one we have! B. & B.

Dear Mark, I live in Sydney Australia, and I have teenage grandchildren. Currently one granddaughter is causing great concern with her self-destructive behaviour. She is being secretive, meeting 18-year-old boys, [she is 14] lying to her mother, and showing no remorse regarding defiance, loss of personal standards, flaunting house rules, petty theft, and smoking. Will your Online Parent Support be of any assistance? She comes from a family of high achievers, with a strong Christian background, and a strong community commitment. Will your product help my daughter? She is a beautiful girl, who is always done well at school, but has turned into someone with no conscience, or sense of self-preservation. I would appreciate your feedback, & will willingly purchase your product, as this young girl is precious to us, & refuses counselling. Regards, H. `````````````` Hi H., I have to ask: · Do you dread what your child will do next? · Do you often feel like you are failing as a pa...

Hi Mark, I would like to ask for some advice. This is just the tip of the iceberg but this is my crisis as of now. My son no.2 took his older brother's money. As a consequence I told him to give back the money by the end of the day or I will cut his cell phone. He did not return the money and denied getting it. His friends told my son no.1 that they went to the mall and son no 2 had money. He doesn't have money because he doesn’t have a job yet. The money wasn’t returned so I cut his cell phone. Since then he is not talking to me and always give me an angry face whenever I talk to him. He even whisper "shut up" which really infuriates me, but I try to control myself from being angry. But I am sure you know how it feels. He is 18 years old. His friends tell him that he can leave whenever he wants to. He leaves the house and sometimes comes home at 1AM. I get so worried. I talked to him and told him that if he will continue to come home after 10PM, he'd not ...

In a recent national survey of students in grades 6 to 10, 13 percent reported bullying others, 11 percent reported being the target of bullies, and another 6 percent said they bullied others and were bullied themselves. Surveys indicate that as many as half of all children are bullied at some time during their school years, and at least 10% are bullied on a regular basis.

Hello Mark, I have just visited your website and see that the advice is for parents of angry teens. I have a client who runs a public library and therefore has a problem with other peoples' teens! A group of teenagers come into the library on a daily basis. They are noisy, obnoxious to other library users, and refuse to leave when asked. They take up all the computers and will not let anyone else use them. People are now starting to stay away from the library and it is getting a reputation for 'being the place NOT to go to'. The librarians are naturally placid people and it is upsetting them very much. They do not want to resort to security guards or the police. Do you have any suggestions that might help them? `````````````````````````````````````````` Would it be possible for the library to come up with a set of "house rules" (i.e., post a set of rules re: time limit on computers, noise level, etc.)? When visitors violate a rule, they get one warn...

"Can you please help me out? My ex called me last week and told me that my older son has sexually assaulted my younger son. The older one is 12 and the younger on is 8. I have been looking online today for some help and what I need to do about it. Yes, on Monday I am going to call for some counseling for him. Can you please help me out? I just need to know what to do and how to talk with him. Just to let you know, the boys do not live together. The younger son lives with mom and the older lives with me. I don’t want anything bad to happen to my kids and this is very hard to deal with." First of all, don't panic. Adolescent sex offenders are considered to be more responsive to treatment than adult offenders and do not appear to continue re-offending into adulthood, especially when provided with appropriate treatment. But, they need to be subjected to the normal juvenile probation supervision requirements. Adolescent sex offenders sometimes attempt to copy sc...

Mark, Well, M______ was home with husband, and 2 other children (19 and 9 yr old sons) yesterday. 16yr old would not do anything. When I came home from work, I told him, take as long as you would like, but he would not have use of the car (lost this privilege) and we would not be driving him until XYZ was all done. Well, he acted as if he wasn't going to do it, put it into high gear, and left on time. He kept whining how I shouldn't use "his" (the car we own but allow him to drive) car, "his" gas, etc. This met deaf ears. Also had to listen to similar stuff on the way home from work. He got on the phone almost immediately when home. Told he was not to use the phone as part of his punishment (also is NOT allowed to call ex/?now current again girlfriend until girl's mother calls us to give permission as she threatened us in June about keeping him away). Well, I picked up extension and it was this girl. Unplugged the phone. He then started h...

Dear Mark, I don't know if you remember me, but I am the one who sings and sent you some songs. I never did get to open your music. If there is a way you could send it again, I would like to hear it. The reason I am writing is to say thank you for all the hours you put into this e-book on line. The support when we parents need it and all the info that is available. It has helped my situation. I at first didn't know about you or your ways of dealing with things, but I stayed the course and things are looking up. My 17 year old has done many foolish things, but as we work things out together and I keep my poker face, things are shaping up. We have a few miles to go, but I am trusting the Lord and I keep reading all I can from the info you send. THANK YOU so much and keep sending material that helps us parents get through these tuff years. Blessings to you, M.B. Online Parent Support

Hi All - I just found out my 15yo daughter 'was' seeing a 21yo young man. I was so blown away cause I thought kids went thru a bit of a 'naughty' build up before the big stuff, but boy was I wrong. Not only was she 'seeing' him she has also slept with him. We are off to the docs tomorrow for the test and to discuss birth control. We sat down & talked about it and I was surprised by how calm I was (she is my only child & I am a single parent). It is weird but I am not angry with her. A little upset maybe but I can't get it out of my head that although she (they) have done the wrong thing, she is 15 and hormonal. Has anyone else felt this way? I mean I didn't want this to happen but now that it has, I have to accept it & deal with it. Is there something wrong with me? ``````````````` Response- I know exactly how you feel -- and no, it's not wrong to feel this way. Our 23 year old daughter just called in yesterday to tell us she had s...

Parents, upon seeing the kinds of places and things their kids are getting into on the ever-growing Internet, have been very thankful that they started using parental control software.

Hi Mark: I cannot believe how quickly we have begun to turn things around in our house -- THANK YOU!! We have a long road to travel, but I think you have given me some very important tools to work with. Regards, C. ````````````````````` Online Parent Support

Online Parent Support

Mark: I had an incident with my daughter last night. She is 16 and dating a 19 year old, I am not happy about this, they were dating two months before we knew about him. She was lying and saying she was out with friends. My husband, G___, who has been emailing you, MOVED OUT AND LEFT THE KIDS AND I LETTERS JUNE 13th. He has only seen our children a few times since. He is in the midst of an affair. He has NEVER been on the same page about any of this. A___ came home late again from being with the boyfriend two nights in a row. I want her home at 11:00. Last night it was 11:30 when I called her and said they had been swimming in the common pool in her boyfriend's subdivision and they lost track of time. This whole thing disturbed me as most pools like that close at 10:00, no supervision, showers and dressing rooms unsupervised etc. She then walks in at 12:00 with an attitude, wet hair and Wendy's french fries, no biggie that she is late. I confronted her abou...

Hi Mark…I am SO upset with myself...major slipback. A month or so ago, my son asked if he and a friend could come to my house for the night (he had been living with his dad for several weeks) and "thrilled" that he wanted to come here, of course I said yes!! Well, from that point on, he has had as many as 5 kids here for the night and one has actually moved in with us. Here is what has happened. I caught my son and the "live-in" sleeping with 2 girls. I had gone out of town twice and didn't get back ‘till the next morning. Yesterday, my son got very mad at me and started throwing my stuff around, breaking things, calling me names and basically attacked my whole being. He also threw something at me and hit me. This all happened in front of 2 friends who cleaned up after him. I told him to get out, which he did and is now back at his father's. I called the police but didn't get much satisfaction, I didn't really want to press charges but bas...

QUESTION-- My 17-year-old has girl friend that i have never met. He talks on the phone to her anything from 3 - 6 hours a day at any one time. He will call her around 10 pm - 11 pm and they will talk until 5.00 am in the morning. We have told him that is not acceptable. He will sleep most of the day. He is so disrespectful when we confront him about this and defiant. He does not see that there is a problem. How can i tackle this phone issue? ```````````` RESPONSE 1-- This is an eternal problem in all families, it seems. I have tried limiting calls to certain hours -- say between 8 and 9 PM (wouldn't *that* be great?) Nothing has been particularly successful in my household; all curbing of this problem seems to involve monitoring on the parents' part. I have chosen not to provide my daughter with her own phone because (aside from the extra expense, which I can do without) that just gives her unlimited telephoning freedom and I don't see that as a solution to t...

How much longer will you tolerate dishonesty and disrespect? How many more temper tantrums and arguments will you endure? Have you wasted a lot of time and energy trying to make your child change? If so, then this may be the most important article you'll ever read. Click here for full article...

My 16 year old son has diagnoses of A.D.D. and O.D.D. His resentment of expectations at home, i.e. chores, rules, and discipline is being used to justify an attempt to change custody. Dad is promising him a driver’s license, car, and job (to pay $15-$17 per hour) while I told him that he needed to be getting passing grades in school to be permitted to get those things. Because I restricted him and Dad is willing to permit him, I’m the bad guy. Help! The court date is THIS Wednesday. `````````````````` Hi N., First of all, I know you are a good mother, so let's not waste anytime debating this. Second of all, if you read my eBook, you discovered that the main focus revolves around fostering the development of self-reliance in our kids. Withholding a driver's license and employment will foster dependency -- not self-reliance. Re: the car. If your son goes to live with his father, I think getting him a car is O.K., but only if he earns it by making money to pay for ...

Hi Mark, Hope you can help me with this matter, I’m going out of my mind...I've had legal guardianship of our granddaughter since she was 6yrs old, she's now 14. The last year has been pure hell - she's now into drinking and smoking pot. Her friends are the be all and end all to her and she'll make any excuse to be with them. She has failed her first year of high school, its not that she can't do the work - her teachers have said she's perfectly capable. Her Mom lives in another province and she has gone to stay with her for a while - she now tells me she wants to stay and go to school there. Now I don't know if her Mom is discussing these problems with her or not, or how she's going to handle them. I hate to see her like this and think we should do all we can to set her on the right path. I've told her she would have to change schools, of course she said no I’m not going to. She hasn't really shown any respect to me in a long time --...

Hello Mark, I stumbled across your website today after I googled: living with difficult teenagers. Your site looks promising to me, but I am wondering if it is appropriate for our situation. My husband and I are married 27 years. We have 2 boys, both out of the house. One is soaring (age 23), and one is really struggling. He is 19, and out of the house about 5 months ago. In a nutshell: depression, counseling, barely finished high school, lacking direction and motivation, four months in a work release program, sleep issues, enrolled at community college, but never attended, always short on money. Biggest issue for us: when we interact with him, it is often because he is short on money and there is usually deception involved. It creates a really tense relationship. Are we a fit for your program, even though we have a son who is 19 and out of the house? Cordially, C. `````````````` Hi C., Ideally, parents should implement these strategies while the teenager is stil...

Mark- Well as I told you before K___, our now 16 year old ran away and was on probation. He is now in custody and we go back to court on the 2nd of August, for sentencing. We informed probation where he was for 3 months before they finally found him right where we said he was the whole time. Just a few blocks away. The problem is and was that he was at a friend’s house and he was having a relationship with his friend’s 41 year old mother …she has 4 children in her household all from different fathers. The 3 year olds father just turned 22 years old and he has no parents. She took our son to the emergency room and used her son C___'s med-i-cal card to have K___ treated for an abscess tooth. She also drove 100 miles to steal K___ in the middle of the night from our relatives whom we were visiting to keep K___ safe until court. Five days was all it was. Obviously that didn't work either. We are very concerned about what has happened to him in the last 3months. She...

Thanks Mark, Yes the tough reality... I have made lots of mistakes.... But today is a new day and a fresh start. My son came home last night at 7.35pm after I made it clear that he needs to be home no later than 7pm for dinner... He tried arguing with me but I kept my poker face and explained that I had said 7pm and that the grounding would start again from now. With the support of my husband and lots of patience we got through a tough morning. My son tried everything to get me to give his shoes back, real temper tantrums...he chopped up his old shoes, burnt another pair, carried on, broke a mirror, but I didn't budge. He found another old pair to put on and I told him after the 3 day grounding he could have his shoes back... Thanks for your support. Kind regards, S. Online Parent Support

Mark, I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful program. My wife and I have been utilizing the steps with our 18 year old son and have achieved remarkable results. Recently, a friend of mine told me of his 18 year old daughter who was giving them problems similar to what we experienced with our son. I shared some of your steps and techniques. He had his first "encounter" with his daughter last night. He "put on his poker face" and dealt with the issue unemotionally and factually. He came in this morning and reported that to his amazement it worked. His daughter returned home with him and they are now working on moving to the next phase of their relationship. Again, thank you. I tell everyone I know about www.myoutofcontrolteen.com and how well the program works. Keep up the good work! Best Regards, G.W.

I have four children ranging between the ages of 10 and 13. My two oldest are 13 year old girls. I got your program because I was needing help, help to stop screaming and having an awful day everyday because I couldn't get my kids to do anything that was expected of them. I learned a lot of our Parenting Newsletters, I read them every time the come into my inbox. I do not miss an issue! However, with my kids I needed more. My mother accuses me of being a liberal parent. Which I am sure that most of the parents from my generation are, I'm 33 years old. My father was impossibly hard and my mother was the typical housewife, "Listen to your father and you'll be ok." I swore I would give more to my children, more freedom, more understanding but through it all, I realized that you don't love them more if you give them MORE room to breathe. At times, you are actually hurting them. The seem to be less confident, wanting to push the rules more because they already g...