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View Full Version : My oldest son is driving me crazy


kyleesmom
05-30-2008, 06:35 PM
This is long, so I apologize.

He and I have never had the greatest relationship. He is my stepson, but Ive been raising he and his brother since they were 6 and 8, they are now 15 and almost 13. Their mother left at that time, and my husband and I have had custody ever since, with their mom getting a 6 week visitation in the summer. I consider them mine since I am raising them, and I treat them no differently than I would my own children and most people dont even realize that they are not my kids. The younger one is fine with that for the most part, but then again, he doesnt remember a lot from when his mom was here. The older one has huge issues with me and with Kylee. He wont do anything I ask him to, constantly picks on Kylee and is just flat mean to her, talks back to me, is rude to my family and Ive had enough of him and his attitude, not to mention his mouth. He has hated Kylee since day one and used to beat her up for calling DH dad. She had barely turned 4 when we married and he is the only dad she has ever known and DH has no problem with it, but Dakota sure did. We were at my parents house a few weeks ago for a family dinner and he behaved so badly that I was embarassed. He refused to speak to anyone, sat in a different room and sulked, when my Mom gave him his birthday card, all he said was "Hm" and walked off and when he did speak to someone it was to call his younger brother names because he was playing with Kylee instead of sitting and doing nothing with him. I so badly wanted to grab that card back out of his hand, tell him he didnt deserve it and give it back to my mom. His behavior that day wasnt unusual either. At most family gatherings, either my family or DH's, he sits with his arms crossed, glaring and sulks. My SIL said something once about him bringing a cloud of doom and gloom with him where ever he went, and its so true. He tries to ruin other peoples good times, ruins games other kids are playing and can be a total downer because everyone tries to get him to cheer up and get involved.

This morning Hunter was late getting up for school. Dakota went and woke him and and when he came into the kitchen he asked Kylee why she didnt wake him when she got up. She told him it was because he yelled at her last week for waking him up when he was sleeping in on purpose and she thought he was doing it again. End of discussion, neither of them was mad or yelling. Dakota jumps in and tells Kylee she is a fat retard for not waking Hunter up and that if she leaves her insulin pen on the table again he is going to throw it across the room and break it. HUH?!?! Where did that come from? I heard every word he said and had it with him and was on my way to the kitchen in an instant. Two days ago he was telling DH about his eye itching and Kylee told him dont rub it or it will get worse, hers did, he looked at her and said "Pipe down moron before I smack you.". His defense for saying that was that he wasnt talking to her. He was told then that his attitude better change here and now or he was going to be spending the summer alone in his room with nothing to do. I told him this morning that if he so much as touched her insulin he would be in trouble and that if the pen went flying across the room, his XBox would fly itself right into the garbage. He told me it wasnt his problem that she had diabetes and was a stupid little brat and I told him that he needed to keep his smart mouth closed and I didnt want to hear another word out of him that morning. What I wanted to say was that it wasnt Kylees problem that his mother is worthless and abandoned him because she would rather be roaming the state doing God knows than raising her kids, but I didnt because I knew there would be no coming back from that. DH and I have a strict rule about not speaking poorly of their mother or about Kylees dad because it accomplishes nothing and I have never said a negative word about her to them. Their mom was not the greatest to them when she was around and Dakota took the brunt of her mental abuse. Even so, both boys think she walks on water and that she cannot do anything wrong. DH and I covered for her a lot in the beginning, and there are times now that I really wish we hadnt because I believe it did more harm than good. She has some mental problems and Im beginning to wonder if he doesnt too. Dakota has been to see a doctor about his issues and he told him that he hates me because Im trying to replace his mother. When asked how I was doing that he said by marrying his dad, cooking his dinner, washing his clothes, taking him to school, that type of stuff. Well whatever, but Im not sure how Im supposed to do anything about that since shes not exactly here to be a mother to him and somebody has to take care of him. He also said he does whatever he can to make me mad so that I will divorce his dad and that he tries to make his brother hate me too. I have now been raising his brother for longer than their mom did and when he realized that he flipped and his behavior got much worse. DH talked to him about seeing someone again and he refused and said he wouldnt do it. They leave in a few weeks for their moms to visit, and I cant wait. I feel like a horrible mother for that, but I cant help it. I spoke to DH about what he said about Kylee's insulin and he is going to talk to him about it. We have suspected him of messing with it before, but couldnt prove it, so didnt say anything. One night Kylee's Lantus wasnt in the fridge even though I know I put it back in the same place the night before. We looked everywhere for it but couldnt find it, so we opened a new one. A few days later I was getting something out of the fridge when I found the bottle of Lantus in one of the door shelves, behind everything else. I know I never would have put it there and Im the only one who gets it out and puts it away. We threw the bottle out because we had no idea where it had been for the days it was missing. I dont know that DH talking to him will do any good, but at least he will know we both feel the same way about it and that may help.

dbz2988
05-30-2008, 07:58 PM
Wow Jill. I'm sorry it has been so frustrating to you. I can understand though. If Jr treated me like that, I honestly believe I would feel the same way. I can't offer you any advise, other than kindness kills. Try to not let it show how frustrated and angry you are. From the sounds of it, I know that will be hard. Can the mother not handle taking care of them herself? Threatening Kylee's health, or taking her lantus for that matter, calls for intervention. DH should force him into some counseling. He's 15. Until he turns 18 or moves out, he is under your roof and needs to abide by your rules. He sounds like he has some underlying issues and they have gone on way to long. This is a tough one. I'm sorry!:mad:

cindyrn6617
05-30-2008, 08:08 PM
So sorry you are having to deal with this. I think he definitely needs to see someone because alot of mental illnesses are hereditary. I wish I had more to offer. Best wishes to you. Sending Hugs your way.

kyleesmom
05-30-2008, 11:18 PM
No Kay, their mother really cant handle caring for them. For the short time she moved back after DH and I were married, we allowed her to have more time with them. That quickly ended after we discovered that she wasnt making them do homework, bathe or wear coats to school in November. A year ago she had the boys for Easter because she had family coming from out of state that hadnt seen the boys since they were very young. While there, Hunter broke a tooth. She called the day she was bringing them home(on a weekend) to tell us and said that she had tried to get him an appointment but when they went the doctor refused to see him because she didnt have a current insurance card. That didnt sound right to me, she lives in Las Vegas and I just didnt believe that in the whole city there wasnt one dentist that would see him. She also then said that he had done it on a Wednesday. When he came home, I looked at his tooth, which was a molar, and HALF of it was gone. I dont know how he wasnt screaming in pain, but he said it was ok. After talking to him a little bit, things werent matching up with what she had said and thats when he told us that she had never taken him to a dentist at all and had told them to lie to us. It ended up that he had to have a root canal done and the dentist was pretty mad about how long it had been between the time he had broken it and the time he was brought to have it worked on. He had to take massive doses of antibiotics before he could have anything done to make sure there was no infection. She has since been very clearly told that if either child is in either way sick, she will take them to a doctor. She was also made to get her own health insurance on them to go along with ours so she can never pull that again.

Flutterby
05-30-2008, 11:37 PM
Jill, I'm sorry that you are dealing with this.. your SS obviously has a lot of anger issues.. he recognizes them, he KNOWS why he's doing what he's doing.. I think the best thing for you, him, and Kylee is to get him back into cousiling, whether he likes it or not.. he's still a minor, he can't do as he wishes.. if his Bio mom does have mental issues, its quite possible that he could as well.. if he does, he needs to be treated.. he sounds like he's depressed, that also needs immediate attention.. for the mental (and physical) well being of everyone involved I suggest you strongly suggest to his father (because he is obviously NOT going to listen to you one bit and would probably resent you more if you even thought about suggesting it) about getting him back into see a counselor.. I would suggest a private person, NOT the school.. he doesn't need his friends at school knowing, that, again, would only make things worse..

I hope you do get a nice break when they go to see their Bio mom, but I hope things clear up at home for you.. it must be aweful to have so much tension and stress at home all the time..

Judy&Alli
05-30-2008, 11:43 PM
Hi Jill,
Wow!

I'm not sure where to start. I think the most important thing to tackle first is Kylee's insulin. Until you get him under control I would buy a lock box for her insulin to keep it from his angry little fingers. At Alli's school hers was in a lock box with a key for safe keeping inside the fridge locked at all times. This might be a good option for you. Good idea to throw the one out that was missing for a few days too!

He sounds very scarey! I think he definitely has some abandonment issues with bio mom and seems to making everyone else the target of his anger.

Can you get dh to take a stand on him getting counseling? He seriously needs it.

Alli and her sister Brittany were adopted from the fostercare system. They had their bio mom romanticized into something she definitely was not!!!!! Sounds like he is doing the same thing. They want so bad for "mom" to be what they need that their minds make them think that she is good.

It wasn't an easy road for us with the counseling. It was very, very intense!!!!! But it is the only way that my girls are healthy right now.

Where do you live I can give you the name of a very good therapist if you live any where near Ohio. It made a night and day difference for our girls when they learned the truth about their birth family. Prior to that they were both mad at me because in their minds I pulled them away from their "perfect mom" Feel free to pm if this is to personal!
Big hugs to you!!!!!!
Judy:)

blessed
05-30-2008, 11:57 PM
I would be SOOOO frustrated. I am frustrated and mine isn't acting half that bad, BUT he has been a big pain in my butt. I have to admit, you have REALLY kept your cool in light of him being horribly rude and mean to both the younger kids. My younger son is just being blatantly rude. Who knows why he thinks our family rules have changed. They haven't, but he is blaming everyone for everything he has done. I CANNOT stand lack of accountability in kids adults anyone. I am the first to admit my faults, and he seems to think it is everyone elses fault. My Mom tells me that I will start likeing him again once he is about 19. You ALWAYS love them, but there are years that you really don't like them (really what they are doing) very much. It is really neat that you have willingly taken them as your own. Hopefully one day he will look back and recognize that.
Oh, I wouldn't think that you would ever leave her with him to baby sit, but I would worry he might harm her.....
I hope things go better this weekend. Shut his door and pray he sleeps in till noon on Sat.!!!