The Kid

This:

20 Things Every Parent Should Here

#2 - We all struggle. Every parent. Everywhere. We all second-guess ourselves. And we all want to quit sometimes. Hold the good times close, and when things are tough, remember “this, too, shall pass.”

Right now things in our house are tough.  This entire week has been tough.  Something is wrong with Zack and none of us know what it is and none of us know how to fix it.  And the struggle through it has been SOO hard on all of us.

Jim and I try to reconnect at the end of every day.  To go to bed in each others arms.  To not make this a struggle between the two of us but a united two person front but it is hard.

He is acting out right now in a way we have never seen.  He is lying and sneaking and vandalizing and stealing. 

None of these things are his normal behaviors. 

None of these things we have ever seen before.

All of them came on so fast and so suddenly we are all (his teacher, the principal, the guidance counselor, us) left with our heads spinning wondering what we missed.  What has gone wrong?

We have asked questions, talked to him, taken things away, offered him things.  He has been in the Principal's office multiple times.  He had to clean up the mess he made. He had to talk to the teacher, guidance counselor and principal about the things he took. He has had all his fun taken away, he has been sent to bed without dinner, he has been yelled at. 

None of it is working.

None of it has made one bit of difference.

So we are left scratching our spinning heads and clawing at the side of the cliff hoping not to fall off.

I know we will figure it out.  I know something will click and we will get through this but right now, in the thick of it all it is hard.  It makes my heart heavy.