ONLINE PARENTING COACH

Our son is in a long-term mental health facility. We do not know where to turn for advice. His therapist is recommending that we put him into a group home. She does not believe that the treatment he is receiving will have any affect on our family life and that he will never be able to return home. This is frustrating because he is there to get help for his aggression and depression. He feels unloved and we wonder if she is helping him feel that way. Why are we paying these people to help our son when their answer is that there is no hope? We don't know who we should contact or what we can do to help our son and ourselves. We want to be a happy family, but they don't seem to share that goal. We will be visiting him on the 23rd of this month. Can you offer us any guidance on this? Thank you for your support. We look forward to hearing from you soon. M. & D. ______________ Hi M. & D., My day job involves working with teens/pre-teens and their parent...

The younger boy is the kid who is acting out. He's lunging at his older brother and the fight ensues. This boy is also smoking pot, has talked about trying LSD, throws things, ditches school, cussing, has kicked opened my car door so hard then slammed it so hard that the door doesn't close right anymore, etc. He has even stuck me in the arm. I'm at the point where the consequence is calling the police, which I don't want to do. When I've sat down to talk to him, red flags started popping up. I want to get him counseling and anger management help. I don't know where to start. How do I find the kind of help he needs? _____________ Putting out small fires is about 99.99% easier than putting out larger ones. When the fire is as big as you have described, you must have some outside assistance. Calling the police will have little benefit. Out of control kids love intensity, and calling the police will reward his negative behavior. You'll need to go to your l...

Dear Mark, Thank you for the great e-mails. I have a 16 year old, out of control son, that was diagnosed with ODD in September. I had him attend counseling after a series of bad grades in school. He chose to steal 2 games from the local Kmart, refuses to do his homework, refuses to go to bed at night & get up in the morning, and wanders the halls in school. He then in September was expelled for a week from school after he took 2 Ipods from one locker & put them into another. The boy's parents pressed charges & we went to court. He was put on probation for 6 months, has community service, is required to keep his grades up, and wrote an apology letter to the person from which he stole. You would think he would feel some sort of remorse? He sees this as a thorn in his side. Even the class on theft that he will be attending doesn't seem like it is going to make him think. It's like he has no fear. The only things that are important to him are playing his...