Answered questions(8)
Daughter is obsessed with herself: Tough Call
My daughter is obsessed with herself and with having other people think she is pretty and popular. I realize that this sounds like normal teenage behavior but I think she is on the extreme end and I am worried she may be a narcissist. She gets very angry whenever anyone questions her beauty or her ‘status’ and she seems to consider it her God given right to use other people as she sees fit for her own ends. We have had a strained relationship for a few years now. I love her dearly but I have very little influence over her so my words don’t really change much for her. She is a popular person and she always has a group that follow her but she has trouble holding onto the same friends for long – and close friends always leave her. I am worried that unless she changes she is going to end up alone in life. How can I know if she really does have narcissism and if she does is there any effective treatment for this condition?
Read answer →Son with behavior issues - what can you do?
My 13 year old son has behavior issues that happen mostly because he is ADHD and very impulsive. he was suspended twice last school year for fighting and mouthing off and he has always had a lot of trouble following the rules at school. Now this summer he is hanging around with some older kids and I have caught him smoking cigarettes and drinking and I would assume they are also smoking marijuana or worse. I am worried that he is not going to make it through high school as it is but if he starts getting into drugs I think he will be in jail before too long. I don't know where to turn at this point. The school guidance counselor suggested I look into boarding schools for children with behavioral issues but they were far more expensive then I could ever afford to pay. What can a single mom who has to work all day and can't watch her son every minute and cannot afford expensive boarding schools do to keep her drug experimenting at risk son from getting into real trouble?
Read answer →If you don't like Romans, don't go to Rome.
My daughter came home throwing up drunk last night. I am working for a 2 year contract in Madrid. My 16 and 14 year old daughters and my wife have all been here since September. My daughters are fitting in well but it is common here for 16 year olds to congregate at cafes and bars and even go to discos. There does not seem to be any enforced drinking age. I have been holding my daughter to American standards and do not allow her to drink alcohol at all or go to bars or discos. She says this makes it hard for her to fit in with her friends. Should I loosen up and adopt a when in Rome kind of attitude. She is a good and level headed kid but I just think 16 is too young to be going to those kind of places.
Read answer →Things Are Not Always as They Seem
My elderly mom has bad arthritis and other pain complaints and needs assistance in the home. She is on a lot of pain medications and she has a caregiver come in every day to helper her with her bathing and with meal preparation and some other odds and ends. She is a pretty independent person so this lets her stay out of an assisted living community for the time being. My mom’s long time caregiver recently moved away and so we have gotten a new lady, who seems nice. Yesterday, I saw her leaving a place I know to be a methadone clinic. I know people deserve second chances but I am not sure that a recovering junkie is the best person to be handing out my mom’s opiate pain medications. I am thinking about firing her. Am I overreacting?
Read answer →Trouble Ahead: 16 yr-old son drinking alone in his room
I found my 16 year old son drinking alone in his room. He wasn’t drunk and he says he doesn’t get drunk and that sometimes he just has a couple of drinks at night to help him sleep. I have had a problem with him. He doesn’t get in any trouble and he does well at school. How worried do I need to be by this? I have forbidden him to continue with the drinking and he said it was no big deal.
Read answer →Forget how you can tell - here's how you can help
How do I know if my teen daughter is depressed? She is 14 and all she ever wants to do is go to her room and close the door and listen to sad music. She says she is fine but she doesn’t seem to be hanging out with any of her old friends and she said she doesn’t want to do the band this year which is something she has always done. She also sleeps much later than she used to. I am looking at signs of depression on the internet and she seems to have a lot of them and to me as her mother I can just feel that something is wrong. My husband says I am crazy and that all the signs I am noticing are just an increased need for privacy and the normal moodiness and laziness of teenagehood. How can I tell the difference?
Read answer →13-year-old sexual activity
My 13 year old son is in puberty and his dad is not around so I think he has a hard time with what is going on with his body. I tried explaining the birds and the bees to him last year but it was so uncomfortable for both of us that I cut the discussion short after it seemed like he already knew everything I was trying to tell him. They teach it in health class at school. I came home today and I found him on our couch with the neighbors daughter. She is 10. They were both almost naked and fooling around. I sent her home and I haven’t really dealt with him yet. He is grounded. To me she is clearly still a child but his body has already changed a lot to be more man like. But the age differences are not that great. I am worried that there is something wrong with him to be acting that way with her but I also know that 13 year old boys are all hormones and have a hard time controlling themselves. I am so scared that there is something wrong with him. Should he be more interested in girls his own age? Should I be worried about this?
Read answer →Saving Your Teen
I have an ethical problem. Is it ever a situation where helping a teen cheat school is the best thing to do? Here is my situation. My daughter is not good at school. She is not interested in school. I am desperately trying to get her to at least graduate high school. She is a private international school in Holland. The system is that she has an opportunity to do a redo assignment to make up all the failing grades she has had over the past year so she can graduate. We also have to pay a sizable amount for this privilege (We already have). As far as we knew she was up to date on this but it turns out she hasn’t started yet and this project needs to be turned in in 5 days. She will never make it on her own. This means I will lose my money and she will have to redo her senior year. I am not sure we can go through this again so I think this will mean she does not graduate. Should I do this work for her so she can graduate and just get her degree? She is very used to having people pick up after her so I hate to do this but I just want her to move on.
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