Teen grandson worries

[Gran6]

Teen grandson 14, parents separated when a baby. Mother just separated from 3rd partner. Dad married with 4 year old son. Marriage is shaky but mostly because of 14 year olds behaviour. Fifty/fifty care, one week with mum, one with dad.

Grandson hates stepmother and recently trashed her belongings. Gets on reasonable well with dad but won’t talk to him about anything , standard answer I’m ok. Nothings wrong.
He has numerous days off school all of them when with mum, never sick at dads. School work shocking. He’s very quiet all the time and does tear up when asked about how he’s feeling.

How can I help him? I don’t know where to start.

[Maddy-RO]

Hey @Gran6 

Welcome to ReachOut and thanks for sharing what's going on with you. That sounds really difficult. It must be hard to see your grandson acting and feeling that way. It's lovely that you want to help.

It definitely sounds like something is bothering him, and it's good that you took the time to ask how he's feeling. You mentioned that he teared up when you asked - did he end up telling you why he felt teary?

You mentioned wanting to help your grandson, but not knowing where to start. I thought I'd share some articles that may be of use to you:

Getting help for teenagers

Family conflict and teenagers

Effective communication and teenagers

Building trust and teenagers