A gripe

[TerryJ2]

Sorry, I have to gripe.
difficult child is being a jerk lately. Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.
He has been staying up way too late watching videos. Supposedly, he's listening to music with-these huge headphones, but when I see images on the screen that are clearly not playlists, he has to turn it off.
Which turns into a fight.
At 11:30 last night he had on his light and the iPad and I told him twice to turn off the light and turn off the iPad. I went to bed for oh, 5 or 10 min. and got up and there he was, as though I hadn't said anything.
And then he went downstairs to eat.
So now I've got the iPad. For the weekend ... until he can be respectful. I don't need my head bitten off for any reason.
Oh, and I reminded him that yet another homework assignment was late, and he argued that he didn't remember what it was, so I printed out the teacher's email, which stated that the assignment was on the board all wk, plus, she reminded the entire class so she wouldn't siongle him out ... and then she typed the assignment for me online. It was a news article plus a paper on any disease, for health class.
difficult child argued that he didn't need to write a paper on it, just print out the article.
I told him his girlfriend could go home if he didn't do it.
That didn't help his mood much ...
This a.m., I reminded him to get the article and the paper, and he refused to take the article. So he reversed it--first he didn't need to write a paper, now he doesn't need the article. Which won't count for much anyway, since he got it off of Wikipedia and most teachers won't allow that.
He needs sleep.
I suspect his girlfriend is up at night, too, and they have figured out a way to communicate even though we have difficult child put his phone in out bathromm at night to charge, because she spent at least an hr on the couch after school yesterday sleeping, while difficult child worked on his paper.

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[StressedM0mma]

Ugh. I hate when difficult child stays up late. It makes her grumpy too. Everything turns into a fight. Not fun. Hope the next few days are better.

 

[AnnieO]

Wish I had an answer, or some suggestions, or something... But... Sigh.

 

[buddy]

I don't let q have electronics I'm his room at night. He has a radio though. Can you get a cheap mp3 player and just make a permanent rule? He will flip at first but eventually he'd get used to it. It makes such a huge quality of life impact it seems.

It's a bummer that school work is such a big trigger. I wish he had someone at school or that you could hire for an hour every day before or after school~ to do his homework with him so you didn't have it at home.

 

[Wiped Out]

Sorry he is being such a pita!! Sending some gentle hugs your way.

 

[Bunny]

Just a thought. If he has an IPad and she has an Apple product (IPad, IPod, or IPhone) they could be using Face Time, which is video chatting (like Skype). I got an IPad back in January and I can Face Time with my sister, who lives in another state. This could be keeping them both up pretty late.

 

[Tiapet]

I'm sorry this is happening. I hope it is just the Ipad and him trying to talk to girlfriend. If it's not and he truly can't get to sleep it could be that the medication level is off too in that he's tripped him into mania like symptoms (like my girlfriend when level was off) OR, it's spring and many of our BiPolar (BP) kids are experiencing this I bet. The traditional spring time manic. I know my oldest and my middle are. Both can't sleep. Middle just got put on the Haldol so it basically wiped it out and unfortunately pushed her in the total opposite direction (thank god for spring break as we adjust medication) and now she is almost none stop sleeping.

As for school work, sounds like mr busy per usual! The school avoids via excuses is endless. Too many battles at home to be adding school. You have done all you can in helping him, reminding him. I finally had to look at this too. Now I look at the ways that take me out of the equation and deal with his problem and why it's happening (as there actually is a case with mr busy).

 

[TerryJ2]

Thank you all.
Good tip, Bunny.
He was perfect when I picked him up from school for his NILD class (with-his girlfriend, of course) and when I dropped him off at her house, he said, "I love you."
He said he was grumpy because I kept bugging him last night. I told him it was twice. And he said he just can't sleep until about midnight.
Hmm.
I vote for more melatonin, or more clonidine.

 

[DammitJanet]

Terry there is something at Walmart called Dream Water that makes me sleep better than Melatonin alone. It has something else in it too. Not sure what. It is all natural of course. I love it. Even with my ambien I have a hard time with sleep. You would think with what I take I would be comatose but Im not. Im going to see if they sell the dream water in a larger size bottle rather than the one shot type that look like energy bottles.

As far as the Ipad every night, you have to remove it. I have noticed that if I hit the computer at night I wont get to sleep at all. I end up on it all night. Hence the fact Im here right now. If I can not touch it I sometimes can go back to sleep but it is addictive and I have a very hard time putting it down. The screen will wake you up or mess with your body so you simply dont shut down to go to sleep. We have even noticed this with Keyana. If we let her have one of her electric games in bed, she will stay up later. We have to take it from her and tell her it has to go to sleep to charge up overnight. Just like people. So far she is buying that because she sees me plugging them in.

 

[TerryJ2]

Janet, I totally agree. We had that rule at the beginning of the New Year but let it slide. Now we're going to stick to it forever. Live and learn.
I'll check out the dream water. Hmm. I hope it doesn't show positive for spice, lol!