New member? Introduce yourself here!

[Breez-RO]

Hey @Champion welcome to the forums I hope you find this community an immense support, it sounds like you are an incredibly loving parent, I am sorry to hear about your Son beginning to hurt himself. If you're in Aus we have a free service in which we can provide you support around this called ReachOut Parents Coaching [click here]. Feel free to start a thread with any concerns you may have or further support you need and the community will jump in with some feedback

Also I needed to edit your post due to community guidelines unfortunately we can't post any methods of self-harm, but can use words such as "self harm" "hurt themselves" etc. Hope this helps  

[taokat]

Hi @Champion, welcome to ReachOut and thank you for letting us know a bit about yourself! It's great that you and your son share a common interest that brings you together. You sound like such a loving family and I hope we can help suport you along this parenting journey. 

Also a big welcome to our other new members @Jeb-03, @zenin, @Annapenny and @worried2001! We're so glad you found us and we look forward to seeing you in the forum. 

So we can get to know you a little better would you mind answering the following few questions? (Remember to remain anonymous!)

1. What is something you cherish about your teen/s?
2. What is something you do to treat yourself?
3. What's the best/worst piece of parenting advice you've received?

I'd also like to invite you to our parent chat night we run on Friday nights. It starts at 8pm (AEDST) and you can find it here. We'd love to see you there! 

[Nick-RO]

Hey @Champion - Welcome to the forums!  So cool that you and your son can bond over the footy!  Some of my best childhood memories - that I keep with me to this day are watching games with my parents - especially the old mid-week league competition because I was allowed to stay up late on a school night and watch with them on the old beat up black and white telly in their bedroom.  Amazing that you are creating those kinds of memories with your son

[taokat]

A big warm welcome to ReachOut's newest members @hammer0122, @bphope, @Mallie, @kidtripco 

and @LILIANA!!

To get started would you mind answering the following few questions? (Remember to remain anonymous!)

1. How many teens are in your care?
2. What is something your teen has done recently that made you laugh?
3. What is something you're enjoying about the weekend?

It's awesome to have you here! Please feel free to start a new topic and our community will be happy to support you in whatever the issue that has brought you here  

I'd also like to invite you to our parent chat night, Ab Fab Friday's, where you can get to know other members a little better. You can find the link here. We'd love to see you there!

[Mallie]

Hey I'm "Mallie". 

1.  We have 1 child who is 13 and has been dealing with general anxiety since she was a toddler.  We didn't know that back then though, we thought she was attention seeking and VERY dramatic for her age BUT now we know the cues and signs and we look back to our previous years, we realise that she really had no control over what was happening in her little mind and body.  Now she is 13 about to turn 14, knows EVERYTHING and we "understand nothing" (insert dramatic eye roll here).

2.  Recently we fell about laughing because we scared the bejesus out of each other unintentionally and both yelled in fear.  I was rounding a corner in the house as she came around it too and we both nearly pooped ourselves!!  VERY funny.

3.  We joined a family friend and their family and friends to celebrate a birthday.  Lots of laughs, swimming, food, drinkies and cake smooshing ;0)

Thanks for the welcome and have a good week peeps xx

[Luula]

Hello @Mallie and welcome to the forums! Look forward to having you here. Your weekend sounds great, there can never be enough cake smooshing if you ask me.

[Nick-RO]

A huge hello to our newest members:

@mum_of_one, @933LW, @Pumpkin, @Dragonmother, @Panda72

Welcome to the forums we really look forward to getting to know you a little better  

To break the ice it might be nice for you to introduce yourself by answering the following questions (just remember to keep it anonymous though).

1. How old are your kids and what is one thing they've done recently that made you laugh?
2. Parenting can be really stressful - how do you try to keep those stress levels down?
3. What led you to ReachOut Parents today?

[Pumpkin]

We, have a 17 yr old daughter (almost 18 this March) and nearly 16 year old son.

Our beautiful daughter was referred to a psychologist at 15 after being diagnosed with anxiety. Our biggest issues with her are around anger management and family participation, connection and living within our boundaries. 

Home life has been pretty stressful these last couple of weeks so can't think of a funny moment that made me laugh right now. The one thing that usually bonds us all together is going to support our son's rep basketball games. It 's a really fun group of people and our daughter loves it.

My husband and I try to keep stress levels down by being united and consistent with our parenting, trying to stay logical and calm, exercising, eating well, catching up with friends and chatting with family and friends about what's going on in life. When time permits, I try to do yoga.

As I said above, right now we are experiencing a very difficult time and I am really feeling alone and overwhelmed and need someone to talk to about it.

I'm not so reliable with being online as like most of us, time is so scarce, so appreciate the ear.

[Nick-RO]

Hello @Pumpkin welcome to the forums!  So glad you have introduced yourself!

So sorry to hear that things have been tough recently and that you are going through a stressful period.  This forum is full of amazing parents who are amazing at lending an ear, sharing their own experiences and generally supporting parents who are going through a rough patch.

If you feel comfortable with it, I can highly recommend jumping into the Common Concerns for Parents section of the forums where you can start a discussion about some of the things that you are going through right now where other parents with similar experiences will be able to find your post and talk to you about some of the tactics they have had success with in navigating these tricky periods.

When I read in your post that you are feeling 'alone and overwhelmed' my heart really went out to you - and I really hope that some of our amazing members can connect with you here.

[taokat]

Hello and welcome to our newest members @ElkeMac, @Stevo67, @ridingawave @lisadunne!!

Remember to keep anonymous, but tell us a little about yourself 

1. What is your favourite aspect of your teen's personality?
2. Parenting can be really stressful - how do you keep those stress levels down?
3. What do you enjoy most about your weekends?

We look forward to seeing you in the forum!