Trish

I am so sorry that Joel is being such a horrible teenager...but they all do it! I have been through heaps of the terrible teen stuff with friends and to say its total hell is an understatement!

They all go through the blame everyone else for their behaviour! Anything that goes wrong is always someone elses fault, usually the parent at hand and you cop the abuse for it!

Most of my friends have ended up speaking rationally to their kids, telling them that they are old enough to be responsible for their own time management and that you are not to blame! They also got their kids into see the school counsellor, sometimes kids open up a little more with a stranger and most of the time the counsellor will let you know if there are any huge issues that you should know about and deal with!

I know that you love your son heaps, but at times it becomes too much to handle and is easier to try and walk away and get some perspective!

I am going through heaps with my almost 13 y/o daughter and its soooo hard, but I know that we will get there eventually!

I hope that things work out for you!