struggling with parents

[Unregistered]

im a teenager with a somewhat bad relationship with my parents im not doing the best i can in school. my father is constatly cheating on my mother and i have seen some text messages as well as letters from mistresess i have known about this for about 8 years now and it really distracts me and has been one heavy burden on me. i first found out when i caught him on his match.com account when i was about 6 years old. in 4th grade i was so stressed about it i had trouble sleeping at night. i fight with my parents a few times a week and one day i really want to tell him what he has done. is this normal that i have taken it very hard? what should i do?

[ccsmod5]

Re; struggling with parents

Hey,
Thanks for contacting our bulletin boards. Sounds like you've been going through an intense situation for a really long time and what you're feeling is very real and normal. And you're right, knowing the things you do and not being able to tell your mom is stressful. You must be feeling an immense pressure right now so we're glad you're seeking help.

Have you ever talked to anyone you trust about the things you know about your father? Would that be helpful to you? Sounds like you keeping these things inside of you for so long is what's causing a lot of stress and anxiety.

What is your relationship with your father like when there aren't arguments and fights? What do you think would happen if you were to confront your dad about his past or do you think talking about this issue with someone outside of the situation would be best? (counselor, therapist, crisis hotline, etc).

If you want to explore some of these things and talk about some options, we're here to listen. You can call us 24hrs a day at 1800 RUNAWAY (786-2929). We're anonymous and confidential.

Best of luck,

[Unregistered]

Fighting with parents ALL THE TIME.

for a long time me and my parents have been fighting constantly. I feel like my mom and dad are just going after me day after day. Me and my mom kind of resolved things between us but my "dad" is a whole different story. He doesn't trust me. So here is the situation. I was sitting down watching tv, I had recently talked to my mom the day before this and she said that she will back off on the homework deal, seeing that I always complete it and there is really no reason for her to remind me. So back to the story, so i'm watching tv and my "dad" comes home and says you can't watch that, you haven't finished your homework. Then I said, my homework is none of your business. And he yells, Yes it is, this tv is going off. I calmly said, I am a responsible teenager, I can deal with my homework on my own. I have never turned in homework late this year so, YOU don't need to worry about it. Then he says my homework is his responsibility. And now it's going back and forth back and forth. I said, mom said that I'm responsible and she will back off with the homework deal. Then he said, I'm not mom. He makes me so frusterated ALL the time. He is so unorganized and irresponsible, I am more responsible than him. It makes me sooo mad. I don't know what to do with all the frustration building up in me, I just want to run away and maybe that will teach him a lesson. I don't want to run away and I probably won't but I just don't know what to do now.

[ccsmod3]

struggling with parents

Hello,

We’re really glad you decided to reach out to the National Runaway Switchboard. It sounds like you’ve had problems with both your mom and dad and what’s bothering you now is your relationship with your dad. Is this your natural father? (We weren’t sure if the quotation marks meant anything.) It seems like you felt you should be given the benefit of the doubt in terms of getting your homework done and that your mom backed you up, but your dad felt differently. You mentioned that you are quite responsible and it sounds like getting your homework done is something that is very important to you.

We’re not entirely sure how serious you are about running away. However, it seems this incident with your dad is causing you to possibly consider it as an option. While we aren’t here to tell you what to do, we are here to listen, provide support, and discuss possible options. You are more than welcome to contact us directly either by calling us at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) or through our newest service, Live Chat, by visiting our main page, www.1800runaway.org and clicking on the red “Live Chat” button. Our chat hours are currently from 4:30 to 11:30 Central Time. We hope this helps and that you are able to keep safe in the mean time. Best of luck to you!

-NRS