Well wasn't that a confronting parenting day! Today I found out my 17 yr old son (grade 12) regularly cuts himself.. Today I found out my son smokes cigarettes and has been stealing them off his dad and I for months now... Today I found out my son has tried to kill himself.. Today I found out my son has a bong in his room. Today I found out my son has tried marijuana.. Today I feel like a failure of a parent! Today I realise I had no idea. I thought my high achieving, super smart, cadet sargeant, caring and beautiful son was the most stable person in our house! Today I found out I was dangerously wrong!.. I'm just thankful he spoke to us!.. xxx
8 Replies
You haven't failed mate, teenagers, particularly male teenagers, can be notoriously secretive and quite good at hiding their inner turmoil.
At least you know now, so you can help him through the darkness.
Sending positivity your way xx
Don’t beat yourself up about it. I feel like it happens so much these days, and the best thing is, he has finally told you about it all... and hopefully he can continue to confide in you so you can support him.
Teens can be so secretive. But you have obviously done many things right, because he could/did speak up and you listened.
Today you found out that your high achieving son has limitations like everyone else and needs help... Like everyone does at different times in their life. Today you found out that the relationship you have fostered over his childhood is strong enough that he comes to you when he needs help... Or trusts you enough to open up to you once the cat is out of the bag. Today you got a stark reminder of how precious he is to you. Be his rock. Be kind to yourself. Get him help. Start with your GP. Xxx
When I was your son’s age, I too cut myself and had tried killing myself. It is something I’m not proud of now however the support I had from confronting my mum was absolutely amazing. She immediately had me at the doctors and on a mental health plan. She drove me anywhere and everywhere to ensure I found the psychologist for me.
He’s done the first step which is talking to you and telling you where he is at, and now it’s up to you as parents to get him on track from here. It speaks a million words that he has had the courage to come to you as parents, that really means he trusts you and is asking for help. You have not failed him at all!
You have been doing something right if he came and told u all this. Try not to be too hard on your self. Get support for him and yourself. Hugs x
He spoke to you about it!! That's amazing.
You have not failed at all.
The only thing you need to do is support him. He is asking you for help by speaking up which is super hard to do. Look up some stuff on mental health and get him a doctors appointment. Talk through it all with him and plan out how you guys can work together to get him through this.
This is actually really normal.
Good luck mumma!
He talked to you. Congratulations on having a child who could do that. In my mind, that’s a win.
I hope now that you are all working together, that you are able to prop him up while he gets the help he needs to get through his struggles.
Well done.