difficult child just called

klmno

Active Member
They went ahead and moved him into high school instead of waiting until the end of summer as originally planned. (They have year-round school there.) He has been issued his JROTC uniform and couldn't talk long on the phone. He had to go shine his boots! :D

(Proud Mamma here!)
 
M

ML

Guest
You should be proud! Tell him that his board aunties are proud of him as well and to keep up the good work xo
 

klmno

Active Member
Thank you, Ladies! As I told him, he needs to develop real confidence in himself and I think it will do him a lot of good. The false brigado (sp) hasn't gotten him anywhere- except there.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Oh that is great news! I hope he finds the JrROTC program fun and challenging. Shining those boots will keep him busy, thats for sure.

I just thought about this. I wonder how they handle the weapons portion of the program? LOL. I cant imagine they let these kids shoot guns inside juvy. You will have to listen for that portion.
 

klmno

Active Member
difficult child told me they use real weapons but without any ammunition. They must be the older weapons- he said they looked old and were all wooden. He said they start out learning how to take them apart, clean them, then put them back together. That sounds par for the course- that is one of the first things we had to learn in boot camp.

What I liked, along with the aspects that teach the kids self-discipline and instills self-esteem and confidence, is that there are occasions where they wear a dress uniform with their badges showing accomplishments and they look so proud in them. I noticed at the family picnic/ceremony last week that many adult staff/teachers were going up to the boys who were close to release time and reminding them how well they had done, not to forget how hard they worked and what they are able to accomplish, etc, to reinforce some positive things before they get released. It made me feel a lot better about the staff.

The one person on his IEP team, on the other hand, worries me a little. She really botched some things by getting difficult child's school evaluation from processing mixed up with another kids. She was adamant that difficult child had been a major behavior problem at school the entire time, which was not true. He had done so well behavior-wise at school the past year that the GAL used that against me by saying that all the problem must be me. Anyway, They will learn- I won't sign the IEP until they get that part straightened out!

I wish our state still offered boot camp for teens as an alternative to incarceration- I would have pushed for that a year ago!
 

klmno

Active Member
When difficult child learned about his father a few years ago is when his trouble started. I could almost see him blame himself and he lost all confidence and never acted the same again around boys he'd been in groups with- like scouts. He just changed and kept telling m,e that something must be wrong with him and that he was just born a bad kid. Anmd, he seemed only comfortable when he was around kids who were in trouuble a lot. This is why, once tdocs learn thiss, it seems like a no-brainer to address these issues in therapy first. The family therapy comes into play because difficult child has a tendency to "hate" me becuase as he says, I'm the only person who says he's not that way so I must be lieing.

I'm thinking that JROTC could help him see that he is not defective- the only thing "wrong" with him is that he thought something was wrong with him. That doesn't mean he might not need medications or whatever, but shoot, that's not the same thing as being "defective" or a bad seed or whatever.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Well that makes sense with the weapons. I wonder if he will learn that little ditty. Remember it? "This is my weapon, this is my gun. One is for killing, one is for fun."
 

klmno

Active Member
I recently learned, too, that the ones who are doing well and been in a while get to go camp-out, with some staff, outside of the fenced area. I think these are boys nearing release time. I think that's a great idea too. Not only is it a reward, but it can serve as a test too, to see if they are maintaining well enough to be released. If they are going to do something stupid, it's better to find out before they are released from Department of Juvenile Justice custody, right? Apparently, they don't have any problems with the boys when they do this.
 
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