So does her son. |
| Many ideas you could try listed above. I am so sorry and wish you much strength. |
| What county are you in so we can link resources. |
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Having him adopted might destroy him. Was he like this before you were diagnosed? Maybe his counselor has ideas?
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“Does not apply to my experience of two kids” is not the same as unusual. Many (not all, or even most, but enough so it isn’t unusual) teenagers act out; this kid also has a mom with a scary diagnosis and apparently no father figure or extended family support. |
| Op, any chance you in the past have tried to mini-wife your son? Google it. It can apply to boys too. He is your son not your spouse. It’s not his job to give you support when you have cancer. |
How do you know it's advanced? Did I miss that in her posts? |
| I just watched a Taiwanese film on Netflix about a 13 yo going through her mom’s breast cancer. She was a brat. It is called American Girl. |
This has been asked several times, no answers though. |
Oh, you watched a movie once? You must be an expert. 🙄 |
Raging is not normal. But yes, as I stated. "something is off" with him, and I'm sure it's due to OP's cancer. But raging is not typical teen behavior. Please. Otherwise, all teens and their families would be in therapy. |
I can relate a bit about not feeling any empathy... I never felt like I had a close relationship with my grandmother as my cousins did so when she got Cancer the whole family united and cared for her. Lots of family reunions, lots of family events. Everyone was around her all the time, etc.... All I wanted to do was to hide and disassociate myself from her and everyone, I was angry, not sure why. Of course, there was no therapy talk then so I was just the "black sheep" and the kid with no empathy. The more people/family pushed me to feel empathy the more I felt numbed. I honestly don't know why but for whatever reason, I was just not emotionally available. Not everyone is born empathetic. Normally children learn empathy through their parents ,society and their surroundings. |
DP. “Raging” isn’t exactly a technical term, so what OP or anyone else refers to as “raging” is not necessarily how you or I thinks of “raging.” That is particularly the case where the person making the subjective assessment is going through a medical crisis herself and her emotional resources to cope with her son’s emotions may be lowered. |
Yes, she should do this. There is an entire division of CPS dedicated to helping parents get placements for their child - either residential treatment, group homes, or temporary foster placements while parents heal from medical issues. |
It’s very normal for a teen to lack empathy. They are very selfish and it’s a developmentally normal part of pulling away. It’s unfortunate timing but he literally cannot put his brain development on hold for your crisis. I don’t think you can rely on any adolescent for support for what you are going through, it’s not fair to ask them that. Instead you each need separate support for this unfortunate family crisis. Def reach out to friends/family who could spend significant amounts of time with him. I would also strongly consider asking him if he’d like to reach out to his dad at this time. Good luck to you both. |