Interesting thread starter....and i have thought about it/discussed with husband.
Gfg32 was lovely baby and youngster. We did not see it coming....first signs were at about age 12. By age 15, he was angry, confrontational. We KNEW it was not right, but friends said, this is puberty...normal. We knew better, but wanted to believe that advice, so much!
We approached FINS (Families in need of Support) thru the courts. We were dissuaded there..."he just knows how to push your buttons". Okay. Guess what...ignoring the hatefulness (walking away) ; it did not work.
We think the eye-opener was when we moved to a "new house"...summer before his senior yr in high school. My dad and brother were putting up a fence for us. husband told difficult child he should help. difficult child took a fighting stance and challenged husband. That was probably the moment we knew things were BAD wrong.
Sigh. We lived with it another 10-12 years. I swear, it has gone on so long, we have great difficulty remembering years/dates. He is our son. We wanted it to work out so badly. Now, we look back and wonder, WHAT WERE WE THINKING?
