Might want to consider moving to Australia. At least they think about the issue.

"In summary, the literature indicates that adolescent violence and abuse to parents is a significant problem that has been neglected by clinical researchers. Although this is clearly a family issue, abusive adolescents and indeed fathers are unlikely to seek ( Read more... )

I sit and drink coffee with my beloved, early. Redwing fledglings swoop to the platform feeder. Recently installed, already weathered, not as full as they might like. Father perches in the lilac, 15, maybe 20 feet between his watchful stance and the potential extinguishing of his legacy. Close enough to call danger! Close enough to distract ( Read more... )

Watched  "Swing," a Law and Order, SVU episode that we taped, last night. Elliot's daughter is dx'd bipolar after an arrest for breaking/entering. She's been self-medicating, according to the ER doc.

I'm quite late in reviewing: BPer's all over the 'nets have weighed in. Some resent the "crazy" way Elliot's un-dx'd  BP mother is protrayed, others ( Read more... )

Just completed: Three Dog LIfe  (Abigail Thomas)

This reviewer said it well: “Abigail Thomas navigates a life redefined by ambiguous loss-a beloved husband who ‘is there and not there.’  She makes sense of mangled senses where a new logic is encoded; she lets mystery stand where translation is not possible." ~ Amy Hempel

I liked the way she dealt ( Read more... )

I found myself fussing this morning, because I hadn't met my goal of getting to the co-op or farmer's market over the weekend. I only wrote 2000 words last week; not 3000. I thought about doing a lot of cleaning projects, but I just didn't do all of them.

I'm getting behind on my goals; I will never make it.

Reality check: I wrote 2000 words of ( Read more... )

When someone who has been falling apart has a day or two of near-sanity, or even a step up the hypomanic scale, not knowing why he sounds better allows you a feeling of hope, of possibilities. Perhaps this time the meds have done their job. Perhaps he will be able to move on and get back to reclaiming some kind of life for himself ( Read more... )

And sometimes it just offers a skinny little ledge to hang onto.

Struggling (again, yes) to wrap my head around my son's latest crazies.

Partly that's because I simply have a hard time with the fact that he is crazy. Now that someone else has seen it, experienced it ... two someone elses, actually ... now that  taking him out of the home didn't ( Read more... )

Two days until we meet the therapist at the residential home teh crazy kid now lives in.

Two days until we (start to) find out what we are in for with "family therapy."

I really hope she knows her stuff. Don't get me wrong, occassionally I have worked with a therapist who was good, and appropriate. When they do what they do well, and with respect ( Read more... )

LOL

I used to love shit like that when I was a teen. Yea, I actually thought it was poetic. And everything in my world was either new and rosy and beautiful and hopeful, or so mired in muck that I just knew my nose would never smell normal smells again.

But it IS a new day today and I'm trying very hard not to make lists of how I am going to reclaim ( Read more... )

Keep believing that kid. Whatever it takes to get you settled in. Whatever it takes to make you accept this new thing in your life. I will not disabuse you of any fantasies today.

But you will find out it isn't camp. It is life and it is hard. There are rules here. There are chores. Responsibilities. There are consequences for your behavior. You are ( Read more... )