New member? Introduce yourself here!

[Hannahloulou016]

Good Morning , I’m Hellen and a Mum of 3. Two boys and the youngest a girl . I’m here because I cannot seem to get through yo my boys . Communication is bad and they don’t live with me . They decided to live with their dad.. a struggle for me daily . Their father is a strong influence and all three are now unemployed and the boys have left school . No qualifications and unemployable . I don’t believe this is what is meant for them ...I need to fix this and help them . Lost

[Jess1-RO]

Welcome to ReachOut @Hannahloulou016! Thank you for your courage in introducing yourself and sharing what is happening for you at the moment. It sounds like things have been really hard lately. Feeling lost is something that many parents on this forum can relate to, and I hope that this forum can be a valuable resource of support for you.

Some places you might find helpful to visit include our Teenagers' everyday issues and mental health page where you can start a post about what is happening for you or browse through topics started by other members. Also Connecting with teenagers and their wellbeing is a good place to start talking about communication. 

[gina-Ro]

Hi @Hannahloulou016 and welcome to the forum!! 

As @Jess1-RO has said - there's a few places that might be helpful for you to check out. 

A lot of the parents on this forum will be able to give you support and maybe a few insights as well from their own similar experiences  -it would be great for you to start your own topic over here so others can see it and reply to you. 

Hope to hear from you again soon 

[Lan-RO]

Hi everyone a big warm welcome to our newest members @Bliss @sweetcherrylane @LilisMum @Kerrym 

So we can get to know you a little more would you mind answering the following questions? Please remember to remain anonymous!

1. What are the ages of your kids, and what is one thing you really enjoy about their personalities?
2. Parenting can be really stressful - what are a few things you do to keep your stress levels down?
3. What has brought you to ReachOut?
4. What's your top piece of advice for parents with kids entering their teenage years?

Thanks for joining us, we look forward to hearing from you! 

[LilisMum]

Hi all!

I have a 14 year old girly! She is totally amazing (biased I know!) the thing I love most about her is when things are good she is so engaging and funny. I have practice a lot of self help over the years after living with chronic pain and when things are going bad in our lives I take 10 mins and colour in or read a book. Something just for me.
I’ve come to reach out to get a bit more information on how to help my girl. She currently sees a Councellor but I needed something for me. Somewhere to get help with how to deal with her. Especially in regards to her self harm.
Seriously the advice I’m
Living by at the moment is she will grow up soon and I will be wishing she was still home...

[taokat]

Hey @LilisMum, thank you for sharing a little about yourself and your daughter. We're allowed to be biased when it comes to our own teens! But I have no doubt your daughter is amazing 

I'm glad you've found the forum and I encourage you to start a topic here so the community can share their wisdom and compassion with you. Hope is awesome to have, but useful advice can help us get through the day to day more easily. 

Thanks for sharing your self care tips too - you've reminded me to get out my pencils and colouring book. It's is such a relaxing thing to do. 

See you around the forum!

[taokat]

...to our newest members, @avajay @kluger @Clarklb @betinha726 and @Annette!!

To get started we welcome you to introduce yourselves by telling us:

1. How old are your teens and what is something they've done recently to make you laugh?

2. What brought you to ReachOut?

3. How do you manage to keep those parenting stress levels down?

4. What do you enjoy most about weekends?

Remember to remain anonymous! 

[Fra_27]

Hi I have two boys 8 and 17 and just the age difference is a challenge on its own. To deal with stress I love exercising and I found this space when I was researching support for the issue we are going through at the moment.
My teenager was diagnosed with severe depression he is medicated but not doing anything else that the professionals suggest and we feel he is manipulating and using the depression to get out of doing things like going to school and being respectful. He threatens suicide when the conversation doesn’t go his way. My husband and I don’t know what to do anymore.

[gina-Ro]

Hi @Fra_27 and welcome to our forum. So glad you've found us. 

What kind of exercise do you do to deal with stress? 

It sounds really difficult with your teenager facing depression - parenting is challenging enough and I can only imagine how confusing and stressful this must be for you and your husband.
Can I suggest that you start a topic over here with a bit of info about what's going on, so that other parents on the forum can offer you support and insights from their own similar experiences? 

[taokat]

Hey @Fra_27, welcome to the forum. I'm so glad you've found ReachOut and can receive some support from the community. Your situation sounds familiar in a couple of ways, and I hope you will take up @gina-Ro's suggestion to start a post. Suicide talk is a fine line to walk and hard to judge for us when it's something they threaten. I've been through this and had this conversation recently. It's a tough one and I'm sorry to hear you are going through it too.