Five Warning Signs That Your Son Needs Help

How does a parent tell when a child needs more help than he or she can give?

One of the first signs that problems have moved beyond your abilities is with performance in school. Even children are aware of these things; it is vital parents realize them, too.

• When your son drops from his normal grades and starts pulling "D-minuses" and "Fs". (D-minuses and Fs in this case are intentional grades earned to send a message.)
• He begins skipping days at school
• He employs behavior orchestrated at getting him suspended from school. Behavior that causes school suspensions include: arguments (frequent and severe) with peers and teachers or any adults, fights and serious disagreements "from all those kids who are picking on or irritating him."
• Stealing. When you notice things missing around the house, you need to know that stealing from the house almost always follows stealing/shoplifting from public places. Stealing starts with candy, small toys, cassettes, CDs and other easily transported products that are of high interest to teenagers. Watch for these items to begin appearing at home. This is the beginning of illegal activity and defiance which will include everything from underage drinking, smoking, and drug usage. Such behavior is dangerous in the developing years and WILL lead to other things if not stopped and corrected.
• Disruptive and disrespectful behavior. Nothing pulls a parent off balance faster than having to deal with the fights and disruptions at home, ending in a grounding or other form of discipline, and then having that discipline scoffed at and ignored. This defiance brings on an overwhelming sense of helplessness. When it happens, the time for needed intervention has already come, just as respect and any motivation to behave have already gone by.

 

What Arivaca Boys Ranch offers, most parents cannot provide. Arivaca staff possess professional expertise in adolescent developmental psychology. They provide detachments from guilt mechanisms children are so good at providing parents. They possess immunity from behavior manipulation-defiant children not only know where all the buttons are, they know just how to push them all.

Most of all, the staff at Arivaca can teach you how to detach from the guilt associated with this traumatic experience you are going through and help you with taking ownership of remedies that provide the best chance for a better life for your son.

In the hectic and crazy days of parents' lives where other children are involved, jobs are at stake, and other demands suffer, there is never enough time (or expertise) to focus on this particular problem. Instead of being slow to react, parents must understand they need to be quick to react if progress is going to be made against a life-sized disaster that is about to take place.

So, how long do you have to go before you need to ask for help? If you have asked yourself that question, it is already time.