Then you haven’t read Bart’s most recent blog entry and you do not know that Mike is no longer in jail. He has been sent to CD treatment as part of his sentence. It is several hours from our home. Bart went to visit him and was told they had just sent him there.
Also, I got a call yesterday that the move for John has been approved and that we will be helping transition him into the adult group home next week. That is such good news as we have been working hard for this for months.
As I blogged earlier, I did not sleep well. Though there are some things about summer that I like, it can be an overwhelming burden if there are teenagers who are bent on disobeying rules and “hanging out with hoodlums” on the streets. We have dealt with it in one way or another almost every summer since Mike turned 13 (so six summers) and it is very stressful. When the kids were younger, we spent a lot of time as a family at parks and pools, but now it just isn’t cool to do that with your family. Parks are boring, pools are only fun if your friends are there and if you’re friends are there then you DON“T want to be seen with your parents.
We also have a couple of things that are out of control -- TV station selection and food consumption. So I’m going to have to police that way more than I want to this summer.
I’ve been thinking of reward systems, charts, schedules ... I think the kids need it, but it is so stressful for me when there are a couple who just fight against it consistently. It takes so much energy. I think I’m going to set it up so that they are only rewarded if they are not reminded. That way it takes the onus off me.
All these thoughts have kept me from sleeping.
Being with my parents is always a wonderful time and I’m always sad to leave as I’m never sure if the next year they will both still be around. But it gives me WAY too much time to think.... something I’m really not interested in doing.
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