When it comes to parenting a child with mental health issues, I think I’ve been through it all. Multiple school expulsions, stigmas about me & my son, family estrangement, psychiatric evaluations, court battles with an incorrigible & non-existent co-parent, emergency room visits, in-patient psychiatric hospitalizations, anxiety-inducing medical bills (there will be a blog about that), […]
My son came back home several days ago, unexpectedly. The last week has been such a turbulent time for the two of us. One minute he wasn’t in my home because I couldn’t take any longer the weight of parenting a child with severe mental & emotional issues. Then the next minute, he is back. […]
Two days ago, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was listening to music that, for whatever reason, triggered a reaction from my son, starting up an argument. For those who follow my blog, you know that my son is diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and mood disorder – disruptive mood dysregulation disorder to be […]
Not everyone has the will power to handle people who are obstinate and rigid. My son’s father is one of them. Interestingly, he too is an incredibly rigid person. For the last nearly three years, he has relinquished all of his parental responsibilities and rights for a number of reasons; one of which is the […]
My son’s father has done what seems to now be irreparable damage to my son and to my relationship with my son. He has physically and emotionally abused my son. The two have the same personality type – rigid, difficult and combative. His father is idiotically rigid; his way was the only way even if […]
I have had many challenging moments raising my son through his emotional and mental issues. As infuriating and distressing as these episodes have been, they aren’t nearly as difficult as that of child abandonment. Our circumstances are extremely complicated. To try to explain it in one blog would not do justice to depict how messy […]
My teenage son suffers not only from ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and mood disorder but also from the emotional turmoil of parent abandonment, racial and identity issues, anger and self-loathing. In his fits of anger, my son has called me every name in the book. He has destroyed several of my belongings. He has put […]
What I am about to say may unsettle many but it is my truth. There’s no point in pretending it isn’t real or hiding it. My experience with parent/motherhood has been mostly unpleasant and unhappy. In fact, I have disliked most of it so much so that I don’t ever want to have more children. […]
There are countless days when I just want to give up parenting a child with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). If this were an adult with ODD, we would have the option of just walking away and never turning back. But when it is your child affected by this disorder, that’s just not an option. My […]
You're Not A Bad Parent 