I’m currently taking Keflex, for 10 days. When I don’t have a UTI I take D Mannose, cranberry and biofilm supplements. Do you guys continue taking your supplements while actively on antibiotics? Or do you take them any differently? I tried doing some research on it but I couldn’t get any concrete answers so I figured you guys might have some experience to share. Thank you!!!
I need some advice on how to approach a sensitive subject with my step kid.
Quick backstory: he got in a lot of trouble in 9th and 10th grade, spent some time in inpatient for mental health issues, now does virtual school, just started 11th grade.
As a kid, he had LOTS of friends. Was always having a sleepover, spent any time he wasn’t physically with friends on the phone with friends, very much a social butterfly. But since becoming a teenager and having all these mental health issues his personality has changed quite a bit.
He lies constantly, like just for the thrill of it, and is constantly saying outlandish, shocking things for attention. This has obviously been off putting to his friends and they’ve all moved on to, well, people who don’t lie to them constantly. The only “friends” he can make are girls that are more than friends and then they leave too once they realize he’s been lying to them the whole time.
He’s very bummed he doesn’t have friends and it’s causing further depression in an already unstable mental state. I can’t just say “well, no one wants to be your friend bc of how you act”. Or can I? I don’t know! He supposedly (I say supposedly bc I’m relaying info from the rest of his parenting team but haven’t spoken to his therapist directly) can’t help his behavior so I feel like telling him the reason is his behavior wouldn’t be helpful. But also if he doesn’t change his behavior he’s never going to have friends.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to be supportive and helpful during this time?
Trying to keep this as short as possible. I’m a stepparent to a 17 year old and I’ve been his stepparent since he was 6. I coparent him with his bio mom, her girlfriend and my girlfriend (who is the bio mom’s ex but they’ve shared him since he was born). So yes, 4 moms. I’m sure that’s not ideal for him but he also has lots of uncles and grandfathers and other male figures in his life and always has. We’re doing our best over here.
Anyway. Most of the “parenting” is done by his bio mom and my gf. Me and the other stepmom have tried staying out of a lot of the big decision making at their request. But it’s getting to a point now where I’m feeling very helpless.
The kid has always been pretty easy. Just a typical boy, video games and horror movies and hanging with friends and running around outside, that kind of thing. But about 3 years ago, things started taking a very dark turn.
My friend has a kid the same age as mine who goes to his school and she called me sounding very concerned. She asked if his bio mom was abusing him. She absolutely is not and has never (I know this for a fact; I know some coparents aren’t very close but the 4 of us are. We spend every holiday together and travel together and do weekly dinners trying to keep a sense of community for the kid). I was shocked why she’d ask that. She said that her daughter, who shares a class with my kid, witnessed him telling everyone that we push him, hit him, and starve him. We asked him about it that weekend and he cried and said he didn’t know why he said that. Okay, fine. We expressed to him how dangerous it is to lie about that and he said he understood. We thought maybe it was done. But the behavior continued so we sought out a therapist.
Without going into detail, things escalated to self harm, assaulting one of his moms over her taking away his computer, drugs, drinking, sneaking out, and lots and lots of lying. This past weekend, we found out from his ex girlfriend that he told her we hold knives to his throat and let people sexually assault him. I just don’t even know. Once she met us and realized he has been lying to her, she broke down crying to one of us. She was very upset and said she thinks he lied about being abused to get into her pants because she’s been abused. This is the second girl he’s done this to in the last 4 months. The last girl’s mom told us she never wants him contacting his daughter again, completely fair.
Anyway, as you can see this situation is out of hand. Trying to keep him from self harm was bad enough but now his actions are bringing emotional harm to other kids and it feels even scarier.
Has anyone ever dealt with anything like this?
Hey everyone. I’m just wondering if anyone here, parents or teens/former teens can give me any insight into what your reasoning would be for lying about being abused?
My stepchild will get hurt in a natural way, such as falling while skateboarding or scraping his arm on a branch climbing a tree and then tell everyone at school that we beat him. He also tells our adult friends that we abused him his entire life growing up (I promise you not one of us did that. I actually think his birth parents are the least strict parents I’ve ever met). Obviously he knows those people are going to say something to us, which they do, and so we catch him in lies repeatedly. We’ve asked him why he lies and he just says he doesn’t know.
Is there something we could be doing to give him whatever he’s seeking through this behavior? I just don’t understand why this is happening.
So, I have a 2025 hybrid. I’ve noticed when it switches from EV to gas, the entertainment center turns off for a split second as it switches over. Is this normal?
Hi! I hope this is the right place to post something like this. I don’t know anyone to go to in my daily life and I just feel like so lost and confused.
So I’m a stepmom to an almost 17 year old who is going through a lot of stuff, which I won’t get into for his privacy. He’s been recommended by various organizations and therapists that he needs a residential center, but I’ve told his other 3 coparents about the things I’ve heard and I’ve been able to keep him out of there so far. If I hadn’t spoken up they definitely would have sent him though, so I’m a bit at odds with everyone which makes this even harder. I’m also only in my early 30s myself and most of my friends my age have infants so there’s just absolutely no one I can turn to or ask about advice because they just don’t get it.
Anyway, my question is: As a teen who has been through things like the stuff that “troubled teen” places take teens for, what would you say you wish your parents had done differently? Or what’s something they did that was helpful? I already know and am trying my best to keep him out of any residential center, so nothing like that but just daily life stuff. Anything that would have helped you or made you feel more supported or anything you wished your caregivers would have understood.
(Yes I have tried asking him all these things but he doesn’t want to answer, which is fine. I know it’s hard communicating with your own parents sometimes.)
Thank you for any answers. It’s very much appreciated as I’m feeling helpless.