Never ending drama

[Imaleo18]

Does anyone feel like they have had never ending drama with their teen. When she started high school last year she started hanging out with the wrong girl. Ever since then she has gone downhill. So at 12.5yrs she smoked weed, vaped, snuck out and drank. Just after she turned 13 I found out she had unprotected sex. The boy was a year older and told her everything she wanted to hear (well read) on snapchat and even though I warned her about these kind of boys she was silly enough to fall for it. She has posted so many inappropriate photos and had older boys on her social media. We confiscated her phone for 4 months. I know it would have been hard because these kids are addicted to technology and social media. Finally give her phone back and she has been accused of cyber bullying but at the same time this girl was giving it back just as good. Now she have a something else going on at school which I don't even want to talk about.
This past 12 months with her has been never ending and its so draining.

[MAYC-RO]

Hi @Imaleo18 and welcome to the Parents Forum.

Thank you for posting, and I'm really sorry that you have been dealing with so much stress over the past year!

I can see that the concerns you have for your daughter are very worrying. Have you explored any professional support for her? If she's reluctant to speak to someone, here is a clip that maybe the two of you could watch together to help start a conversation about what getting that type of support would look like.

You also have the option of family counselling, and more info can be found through Relationships Australia. If you want to talk to someone, Parentline is a really good support and resource service.

Regarding the phone use that has been an ongoing issue, you are definitely not alone in that one and many parents have the same struggle, here is an article about helping your teen manage their social media usage, it's not a fix-all but it can be a starting point. 

Please try to find some time to take care of yourself so you don't end up feeling completely overwhelmed, as this is a lot to try to navigate. 

[Blake-RO]

Hi @Imaleo18,
I’m sorry to hear that you have been experiencing this, it is completely understandable that you would be feeling drained. But the fact you are reaching out for support really shows how much you care about your daughter.

I wanted to let you know that we have an online coaching service - it's free one-on-one service for parents and might be helpful to get some strategies in place to help you cope with and hopefully improve things for you and your daughter.

Also, we've sent you an email with some additional info, so keep an eye out for that.