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13 year old girl

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Over1

13 year old girl

I am need help.
My child 13 girl has been running away 1st time Friday, she was at her friend's house when I found her. My problem is this friend mum was going to pick her up ( a few days later) so she could run away again.
I am trying to find out why she is running away and i feel this woman is definitely not helping the suitiation.
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Stormy-RO

Re: 13 year old girl

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Hi @Over1 and welcome to the forums. It sounds like you are going through a very difficult situation with your daughter running away from home. It must have been a relief to know that she was at a friend's place, but also very stressful to know that she was planning to run away again in a few days' time. The uncertainty of not knowing why she is running away would only add to this. 

I see that the mum of the friend has been enabling your daughter to run away from home. This is an incredibly frustrating situation where you are trying to work out why she is running away, with this is interfering with your ability to look after your daughter. I was wondering if you had the contact details of the mum so you could discuss the situation with them? 

It could also be the case that your daughter has opened up about her feelings, or her behaviour has changed recently, and someone else has noticed. Is it possible you could contact your daughter's school around her wellbeing? Could you encourage your daughter to seek support from a school counsellor or a trusted adult about the situation if she won't talk to you? If you do feel like you might be able to have a conversation with your daughter yourself, I'd like to link you to our article on having a difficult conversation with your teen. It may help to prepare for the conversation. 

Finally, I wanted to link you into Parentline, which is a confidential phone-based counselling service which gives advice to parents. They may be able to give you further advice and support around this situation too. I also wanted to ask what you have been doing to manage your own wellbeing as you are going through this stressful situation?

We've also sent you a check-in email, so could you keep an eye out for that?

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Moey1

Re: 13 year old girl

I used to run away from home when I was younger so I may be able to offer a different perspective.

Your daughter is obviously seeking connection beyond your home for some reason or another.

Have you self reflected on why your daughter would feel she needs to run away from you?

I used to run away from my family because it was dysfunctional and abusive.