difficult child "technically did not" run away

Andy

Active Member
difficult child got mad at me Sunday and ran away. I watched him go out of sight and then took puppy out to front of the house to see is I can tell where difficult child is going. I saw him double back to behind a house down the street - heading to our back yard!

I then heard our basement door shut - I went into my husband's office and asked if he knew where difficult child was - he smiled behind his newspaper (difficult child is in his office). Loud enough for difficult child to hear: "Well, I don't know where difficult child is. He ran away and I don't know if he will return home." I then went upstairs to wait it out.

About one hour later, he came up crying. "I thought you would come to look for me and beg me to come home." "You didn't want to come home so why should I ask?" "I kept thinking about how much you help me (lists times)" "Well, if you run away for real, you will be throwing those memories away." "I wasn't going to run away, technically I didn't because I was home the whole time. If I ever run away, I will pack a bag."

He was soooo sure that I would breakdown and cry!!! But then again, how can I when I know he is safe at home? :)

Gosh, wonder where he gets is mischeviousness from? :devil2:
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
You know -

When difficult child ran away the first time - we drove ALL OVER Helencreation looking for him. And HE WATCHED US make total jackasses out of ourselves.

We discussed this in private with the therapist and he said the next time he goes - call the police and DO NOT leave the yard. So we did - and it floored Dude- he was MORE angry that we didn't send out the troops, kept stating we didn't love him or we would have looked, so we (armed already) said "And how much did you love us by leaving? Family does NOT do that - they talk about what's bugging each other."

It cut short his running career. That and me tossing his garbage bags full of clothes into the yard.

Gotta hand it to your kid - he knew where to hide out and had a plan. That has to count for something.

:sheepish:
 

Christy

New Member
My son (age 9) "ran away" for the first time a few weeks ago. He stormed upstairs after a meltdown and we thought he was cooling off in his room. Actually, he was packing a bag. He came down and said that he couldn't take it anymore and he was leaving. Okay, I said, can I have a hug and kiss. He said yes and husband and I wished him luck in his new home. Then he walked out the front door. husband asked if we should go get him. No, I said. I'm not chasing him. If he makes it to the end of the street, I'll go get him in the van. He looked back at the house waiting for us to come out and then began walking down the right side of the street. He made it as far as the neighbors and looked back. Then he walked back to our house and stared it for a moment, waiting. Next he walked down the left side of the street as far as the neighbors house, stopped, looked back at our house and waited. Again he returned to the front of the house and came up onto the porch. We thought he was coming in at this point but instead he put his bag down and unpacked his coat, put it on and repeated the exact same process as the first time. This time after still getting no reaction from us, he continued walking down to the corner of the street. I went for the van and by the time I had it in gear, I saw he running back up the street and he came busting in the front door. I changed my mind, he said, running away is too hard and I need to face my problems! It was so hard not to laugh.
 
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