Teenage son 14yrs old HELP!!

[Sophie-RO]

Hey @goingcrazy thanks so much for letting us know how things have been going lately... You obviously care about him and you are (rightly) very proud of the young man he's growing into!

Did he ever mention why he likes "roaming" at night? If you know what he gets out of it you might be able to suggest other/safer ways to fulfil that need...

[Sand1012]

Hi, this sounds so much like my son. Does your son suffer from anxiety? And does he miss a lot of school? I’m really struggling with how to deal with my sons anxiety and school refusal.

[Janine-RO]

Hi @Sand1012 , 

School refusal can be a really hard thing for parents to deal with, and it's something we hear about quite a lot - sorry to hear that you're going through this with your son. Is he also wandering out at night like the original poster's son was? How old is your son? 

We have a good resource on how to deal with school refusal here , and you're exactly right, it often stems from anxiety. Is this something that's got worse recently for your son, or is it something he's been dealing with for awhile? It has been a very strange and turbulent year for most of us, and for kids who are already dealing with anxiety it has been an even tougher one. The right support can help a lot with school refusal - is your son getting any support to help deal with his anxiety at the moment? Your school counsellor, local headspace centre or GP can be a great place to start if he's open to talking to someone about what's going on for him. 

If you think it would be helpful to have some one to one support, we do offer a free one to one parents support service that you can check out here - it provides free, professional support for parents, and can help you to come up with some more ideas on how to help your son, as well as give a bit of extra support to you. Dealing with school refusal can be incredibly stressful for parents too - how are you coping with it all? 

Thanks so much for posting here, it's clear how much you love your son  - the community here is always here to listen if you need a space to vent. 

[M-uber]

We have same problem. After many arguments we put the Life360 app on all family members phones. It was met with much anger but we e planned that it had happened too many times and we needed to know where he was in case of an emergency. After two years it’s still a contentious issue but whilst we pay for the phone and data, he knows there’s no choice. Down side is they know where u are too 🙂

[Taylor-RO]

Hello @M-uber, thank you so much for sharing. I noticed that you are a new user here - welcome aboard! Please feel free to share more of your story if you feel comfortable. Are there any other strategies you have tried that have worked? It must have been challenging to try to get it right

[M-uber]

I’m so glad things have improved. Sounds like you and ur wife are a good team 🙂