u/Far_Emotion213

My 12-year-old son hit burnout a few months ago and hasn't been able to attend school since.

Before all of this happened, we'd booked him onto a summer day camp back in January. It's a camp he's attended for years and has always loved. Yesterday, after a huge effort from both of us, he managed three hours there. He made a friend, had a good time, and I felt so happy and hopeful. For the first time in a while it felt like we might be taking a small step forward.

Today is a very different story. Despite me getting up at 6am so we could have a slow, low-pressure start to the day, he's still here at home and it seems very unlikely he'll make it in. I know it must be incredibly hard to be him. I know he's not choosing this. But if I'm honest, I feel really upset. Yesterday gave me so much hope, and today feels like a setback even though I know recovery isn't a straight line.

I don't even know what I'm looking for by posting this. Maybe reassurance from people who have been through something similar. It sounds awful to say, but there was a time when getting him to camp every summer felt like a hassle because it's such a long journey from home. Right now, I'd give anything to be back to those days, making those trips and watching him run in without a second thought.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of up-and-down pattern after burnout? How do you hold onto hope on the difficult days?

My 12-year-old PDA son has been very hit-and-miss with baths recently. We used to have a routine of: one hour on the PC, then bath, then the bedtime routine. Recently, though, he either won't get off the PC or, if he does, he'll run away into his room or the front room and block the door so nobody can get in.

To try and reduce the conflict, I switched things around. Now it's bath first, then PC time afterwards, with the promise of some extra computer time to make the change more appealing.

Last night he forgot about the new arrangement and went straight on the PC. I reminded him that we'd changed the system and that if he had a bath, I'd give him some extra PC time afterwards. I ran the bath, but he disappeared to his room and blocked the door, so I left it and went downstairs to watch TV.

At around 11pm, I went upstairs to go to bed and found him in the bath! I gave him his toothbrush and pyjamas, he got dressed, went into his room, and I went to bed.

About 90 minutes later he knocked on my bedroom door and announced that he was ready for his extra computer time.

The only reason he came to find me was because I had removed the keyboard and mouse. Otherwise, he would happily stay on the PC until he passed out from exhaustion.

I pointed out that it was now very late, but he said, "A deal is a deal - you need to stick to your side."

In the end, I gave him the keyboard and mouse back, but explained that at some point I would come back down and he would need to come off. I woke up at about 2am, went downstairs, and when I told him it was time to stop, he initially said he didn't want to. I replied, "A deal is a deal," and, to his credit, he did come off without any argument.

Part of me thinks I absolutely shouldn't have given him the keyboard and mouse back at 12:30am. Another part of me thinks that if I'd broken the agreement, I'd have damaged the trust we'd built and made future negotiations harder.

What would you have done?

I find myself in meetings and even at home cutting people off all the time! I normally remember to say sorry but I am sure people think I am just rude! How can I stop my self doing this? It just my mind going at a million miles an hour and wanting to solve any problems being talked about but I don't think that is how it comes across.

My 11 yo son (almost 12) is going through something at the moment. Hes refuses to go to school or his dads (we have done 50/50 parenting for the last 3 years) and he has started having violent outbursts related to having his phone removed - normally at bed time but occasionally other times for bad behaviour. We have an appointment with the child mental health team soon, we have a specialist that he has a once a week zoom call with but I and his elder brother are really struggling. - we have both been in tears today at separate points.

Any advice or sharing of a similar situation would be so helpful right now - Im at my wits end.

I have wanted to scuba dive for a really long time - took me some time to get my swimming decent enough and then did a hour tester session (which I loved) then the all day pool training which was fine. I then went to do part 2 in a open water venue in the UK and it was a disaster.

There was a large group of us and it all seemed to move really quickly. The water was really cold so had to wear double wetsuit which I found really uncomfortable and then when we got in the water was really murky and I even though the instructor was lovely I started panicking and couldn't take anything in. I ended up quitting fairly early on which was really disappointing.

But I still want to give it another goal so have booked in to do the scuba diving course instead of the open water course as it is less intense, a private one on one course and Im doing it in a warm country. I would love it if anyone here could give me any hints, tips or advice on ways to be less anxious and just enjoy it.

My son is having a sleepover with his best friend at my house. They go to different schools and this has been the first chance for them to get together for months so both excited. This has been the first sleepover for a couple of years and I dont know if I should impose a bedtime or just let them crack on even if it gets to midnight and I need to get to bed. Would love to hear what others do!