AskReddit trainwreck post about sociopathic 17-year-old son; almost 2000 comments

Posted by Anonymous User

Anonymous User

AskReddit trainwreck post about sociopathic 17-year-old son; almost 2000 comments
September 26, 2011

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ks59c/my_17_year_old_is_completely_going_off_the_rails/

Just something entertaining schadenfreude in case you haven't had your fix tonight. Go forth, gawk at and be thankful we'll never have to deal with being responsible this (or any) type of troubled brat. Oh, and there was a comment earlier claiming these issues could be easily solved by the "paleo diet" and claimed a few weeks of gluten freedom worked for the poster's kid with ADHD or autizzm - funny, but it got deleted or downvoted (hmm, wonder why).

Quote

Hello, lovely Redditers. This is my first post so go easy.

We have a 17 year old that for the last 5 years has made our life as a family a living nightmare. We are a stable married couple (almost 20 years!), with pretty run of the mill rules of the house that are not too strict, but not too relaxed, either. We've tried to strike a good balance and since we have two other kids that are doing just fine we know it's not necessarily us.

Our oldest has, in the last two years, done the following:
set fires in the house
attempted to strangle his mentally disabled brother
stolen alcohol, hundreds of pills, and drunk bottles of vanilla extract in an attempt to get high
carved cabinets with knives
took knives to school and threatened classmates
made threats to kill everyone in church and burn it down
sneaks girls in the house, unprotected sex, sexting, etc.
broken several pieces of electronic equipment by slamming it down in rage
peed and pooped on a classmate's backpack for fun
stolen money from both us and his siblings
animal abuse, can't leave him with siblings
lies constantly, manipulates everyone he comes in contact with
sexual harassment of young girls ages 13 or younger
consistently poor grades

oh, there's more, but those are the big ones. We had to commit him to a "troubled youth" facility this summer for two weeks, where he sexually harassed/molested another patient and the State showed up at our house because of that. We go to counseling as a family every two weeks, he's on meds for depression.

Honestly we've tried it all. He has made it abundantly clear that he wants nothing to do with any of us since he was about 12. I would love to kick him out but I don't think I can do that under the law.

I know there are Redditors here who have either been super rebellious or had super rebelious teens or family members. Is there anything we can do, anything that might make him stop being such a a colossal tool? Are there other options we can take, like boot camps, etc., that don't cost an arm and a leg? Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

UPDATE: hey folks, I can't believe how big this got. We're off to family therapy. I really appreciate all the help and advice and stories you've shared. If nothing else, I am encouraged by the fact that I am NOT crazy. We will be continuing to get him professional help, and I will update here when I know more. Again, thank you so much for all your help, it's amazing to me that strangers will help other strangers out like this.