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Hello, I am 14 and I live in Florida. I have been carefully considering running away for many months.
The household I live in is perhaps not what would qualify as "dysfunctional", but it is very stressful and is unbearable to live in.
My parents are not divorced, and no one has any addictions.
But my father and mother never seem to get along -- in the time I have been planning this they have gotten worse and worse. My mother, frustrated by my father (not "helping in the household", leaving "too much work for her", and such) is often in a very bad mood -- which she takes out on my younger sister and I. She yells with little provocation, and when asked why she is yelling about something so simple (such as not offering to run a load of laundry) she consistently replies that she was not yelling, only raising her voice, and will proceed to lecture on why "this family" as she calls it is "not a happy, loving family" but instead a disorganized, everyone-for-themselves family.
When my mother is really upset, she will begin to scream and yell, and will occasionally reach out and firmly grab me by the arm to make a point, or to prevent me from not listening to her entire speech -- I am not sure of which it is. She looks very, very frightening when she does this and can be incredibly loud. I remember several experiences of this as a child, and those experiences have built a fear of her into me and scar-d me. She often claims that I act as a "doormat" -- allowing other people to walk over me, when in truth she is the only one I behave this way around because trying to be more assertive only seems to earn me more yelling.
That is not to say she doesn't act this way around my younger sister and my father -- the only difference with them is that she yells mostly at my sister when she is in the car, driving her someplace, and yells at my father in the kitchen. I have never seen her grab my father, but I remember very vividly many times that we were driving home from a grocery store or someplace, and my sister was bright red, tears streaming down her face as my mother yelled at her and shook her leg in the seat of the car.
To be fair, she has not has an episode where she grabs my/my sisters arm recently. She has had a yelling episode recently.
One other thing I should mention is that she seems to have a switch of sorts -- She can be so mad at one minute, but after three minutes she seems normal again. She often tells me to "move on and get over it" when I am feeling, well, doormatted, after a episode, not seeming to understand that I can't not be afraid, because I don't know when she'll burst next.
I plan to run away for a 3-day, 2-night period, enough time to let my mom really think about the way she's treating everyone in the family, and see the stress it causes, and the effects. I plan to take basic things with me, and leave a note stating what I am doing. I have places to stay pre-picked out, but I am not sure if they are the best options for me. They are friends houses, but they are friends that my mom has never personally met or spoken to -- but she has seen me with them. She does not know their addresses.
If I do not stay at each house for more than 24 hours, and spend the days in a public park or library, is this legal? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this work?
Thank you for any and all help.
The household I live in is perhaps not what would qualify as "dysfunctional", but it is very stressful and is unbearable to live in.
My parents are not divorced, and no one has any addictions.
But my father and mother never seem to get along -- in the time I have been planning this they have gotten worse and worse. My mother, frustrated by my father (not "helping in the household", leaving "too much work for her", and such) is often in a very bad mood -- which she takes out on my younger sister and I. She yells with little provocation, and when asked why she is yelling about something so simple (such as not offering to run a load of laundry) she consistently replies that she was not yelling, only raising her voice, and will proceed to lecture on why "this family" as she calls it is "not a happy, loving family" but instead a disorganized, everyone-for-themselves family.
When my mother is really upset, she will begin to scream and yell, and will occasionally reach out and firmly grab me by the arm to make a point, or to prevent me from not listening to her entire speech -- I am not sure of which it is. She looks very, very frightening when she does this and can be incredibly loud. I remember several experiences of this as a child, and those experiences have built a fear of her into me and scar-d me. She often claims that I act as a "doormat" -- allowing other people to walk over me, when in truth she is the only one I behave this way around because trying to be more assertive only seems to earn me more yelling.
That is not to say she doesn't act this way around my younger sister and my father -- the only difference with them is that she yells mostly at my sister when she is in the car, driving her someplace, and yells at my father in the kitchen. I have never seen her grab my father, but I remember very vividly many times that we were driving home from a grocery store or someplace, and my sister was bright red, tears streaming down her face as my mother yelled at her and shook her leg in the seat of the car.
To be fair, she has not has an episode where she grabs my/my sisters arm recently. She has had a yelling episode recently.
One other thing I should mention is that she seems to have a switch of sorts -- She can be so mad at one minute, but after three minutes she seems normal again. She often tells me to "move on and get over it" when I am feeling, well, doormatted, after a episode, not seeming to understand that I can't not be afraid, because I don't know when she'll burst next.
I plan to run away for a 3-day, 2-night period, enough time to let my mom really think about the way she's treating everyone in the family, and see the stress it causes, and the effects. I plan to take basic things with me, and leave a note stating what I am doing. I have places to stay pre-picked out, but I am not sure if they are the best options for me. They are friends houses, but they are friends that my mom has never personally met or spoken to -- but she has seen me with them. She does not know their addresses.
If I do not stay at each house for more than 24 hours, and spend the days in a public park or library, is this legal? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this work?
Thank you for any and all help.
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