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My 13 yr old son hit me this morning

129 replies

Joynot · 18/11/2020 10:00

Mainly because he didn’t want to go to school and I was tickling him to get off the couch

8 punches on my arms
I walked away

He then said I had no friends and I’d wasted my life

I’ve talked to his school about his behaviour, I self referred to cahms 2 weeks ago after he hit me.

What do I do?

OP posts:
cantdothisnow1 · 19/11/2020 07:53

OP please don't hit him back, that is likely to escalate the issue and he may really hurt you.

I'd urge you to speak to the GP and get professional advice not take the advice from strangers on the internet. CAMHS have a crisis team that you may be able to access and if he is really bad and you believe it is a mental health or neurodevelopmental issue you will be see by a mental health professional more quickly if you take him to A&E.

You can call the police, I did it once on the advice of CAMHS when my son was unregulated and having an episode, they can't help though, they are not mental health workers and when they know that CAMHS are involved they are not likely to take any action. They didn't help my child realise the seriousness of it as the behaviour wasn't deliberate it was a response to extreme stress.

OffredOfjune · 19/11/2020 08:41

You made this happen, unfortunately.

What a wonderful mentality 🙄

Joynot · 19/11/2020 10:05

I honestly can’t believe some of these comments

I actually want to die
And so does my child

I have a bigger issue now and I have pulled him out of school
I have to rethink our entire lives

OP posts:
HmmSureJan · 19/11/2020 10:10

@Joynot

Please try not to see this as negative. Pulling my child with ASD out of school was the absolute best thing I could have done for him and for our family. Today, take this as breathing space. He's out. The stress is off. Clear your mind and don't think of the future, just for a few days. Within three days my child was a different child because now the stress was off him and he knew he wasn't going back.

I home educated my child for 9 years. I worried and fretted at the back of MH mind for almost the whole time that I was failing him. This year he went to college and is doing absolutely brilliantly. It felt so dark at times and when he was in school was the worst. This is a good thing. I promise you. Because now you can find out what works for him.

Shame on you those of you have sneered and judged the OP. You should feel ashamed for guilty for what you've said here on this thread in your ignorance.

OverTheRainbow88 · 19/11/2020 10:13

@Joynot

Ignore the ridiculous comments please. I would advise not coming back on this thread.

You need a plan.

  1. Call your GP ASAP and explain the situation
  2. Keep your child in school; he needs the stability/ give yourself a break from him
  3. Call school tell them what is happening and explain you need help right now
  4. Call CAHMS again tell them your son is suicidal
  5. Don’t harm yourself in any way; this is a very shit time, but it will get better

Do you have a friend you could call and meet up with today?

justanotherneighinparadise · 19/11/2020 10:17

@Joynot

I honestly can’t believe some of these comments

I actually want to die
And so does my child

I have a bigger issue now and I have pulled him out of school
I have to rethink our entire lives

OP that seems to have escalated somewhat!! What’s happened? Why are you pulling him out of school? Why are you saying you both want to die?
Papergirl1968 · 19/11/2020 10:21

Op, you need to take a deep breath and find the strength from somewhere to keep going.
A lot of posters on here have talked utter crap in my view, but OverTheRainbow88 gives good advice. Leave off the homework for now by all means but I do not think pulling him out of school is the answer because it gives you both some space from each other.
Please confide in a trusted friend or relative and try to get someone to come and have a cuppa or go fur a walk with you today. To hell with lockdown, your need some support right now.

Pumperthepumper · 19/11/2020 10:22

I would just forget about a long term plan for just now and take it day-to-day, for the moment. You really need to fight for any kind of official support so keep at the GP and education board.

I’d forget about punishments too. Punishing him hours later just continues the argument and really, you’ve got bigger fish to fry. If he gets antagonistic you need to immediately walk away, leave the room, let him calm himself down (I’m sure you already do this, sorry if it sounds patronising). Definitely don’t hit him back, that’s a horrible cycle to get into. What if he hits you back, do you then hit him a second time? It’s rubbish advice.

Best of luck to you Flowers

HmmSureJan · 19/11/2020 10:23

Pulling children with additional needs who are not coping out of school is sometimes the only answer. Though I understand why people don't see that. We are all so invested in school being the only way to educate.

catspyjamas123 · 19/11/2020 10:38

Stay strong OP. There were some cruel comments. You can both get through this, whatever has happened. He has you on his side and together you will manage.

megletthesecond · 19/11/2020 10:40

You shouldn't be tickling him.

My 12yr old was hitting me this morning because she doesn't like school.

TheHoneyBadger · 19/11/2020 10:44

I have only read the first page and then just your comments OP.

I have a thirteen year old boy and am a lone parent and appreciate how intense the relationship can be. I've always said to my ds that him laying a hand on me will never be acceptable and that one day he would be taller than me and stronger so even as a little kid it was a really firm boundary that he knew would mean serious serious stuff if it was crossed.

I would like you to think of yourself too. When ds has had periods of being badly behaved or foul tempered at home I've sat him down and said I cannot live like this, I will not put up with this atmosphere in my own home and I deserve peace and niceness in my own home.

I've made it really clear that his behaviour effects me and that that is not ok. He's a teenager and struggles with his temper sometimes and identifies that he just wants to hit things when he's angry and talk about it later when he's calmed down. He has a decent free-standing boxing bag in his room that he asked for from me last Christmas and he does know to go and channel it into that.

I think he knows that if he ever crossed the line and was physical with me I would take extreme action. I've made clear I would not be willing to live with anyone ever who was violent towards me no matter who they were.

I think you have to hammer home your side of things as a start and ask him what would you do/how would you feel if you saw somebody else hitting me? I would presume he is protective and would respond with something like I'd batter/kill/whatever them. You then need to ask how it is different for him to treat you like this.

I would be spelling out that you were on a road that was unsustainable and would likely lead to him having to live elsewhere if you continue on down that road. That yes you love him but no you won't be anyone's punch bag and if he forces you to you will have to have him moved out of your home.

I hope to god I never find myself in that situation and ds's temper is directed at objects not me and he is well aware of my boundaries and how I absolutely hold my boundaries because he has known me for the last 13 years and knows I don't allow people to mistreat him for long and there are limited chances I give even to people I love.

You so have my sympathy because I can imagine how awful the situation must be. Ds is frequently damned hard work to get up and to school on time and I hate how it has to be so confrontational and having to force him to go rather than him just accept it and it's definitely exhausting having to have that battle in the mornings.

Violence is a whole other level and I don't think you can continue like this. I would speak to social services and the police unofficially and explore exactly what your options are and then present them to ds and say this is where we are heading if you continue to be violent.

cantdothisnow1 · 19/11/2020 10:51

OP well done, the best thing you can do is remove him from school.

Now you need to give him, and you, time to de-escalate.

If you haven't formally deregistered the LA still has a duty to make an educational provision but you can think about that later.

School was the cause of all of my son's issues, you can educate at home when he's ready but for now just breathe and deal with the mental health side of things.

cantdothisnow1 · 19/11/2020 10:53

@HmmSureJan

Pulling children with additional needs who are not coping out of school is sometimes the only answer. Though I understand why people don't see that. We are all so invested in school being the only way to educate.
THIS.

A school that doesn't meet a child's needs is so damaging to them and can cause trauma.

justanotherneighinparadise · 19/11/2020 10:57

@megletthesecond

You shouldn't be tickling him.

My 12yr old was hitting me this morning because she doesn't like school.

Oh be quiet. Stop conflating tickling with punching.

Too many people on here have been so busy victim blaming they’ve failed to see how distressed the OP is. If the post had been written by a woman who was being punched by her partner and not her son your replies would be very different. Many 13 year olds are already the size of grown men nowadays. The OP needs support not condemnation.

LauraMipsum · 19/11/2020 11:04

@Joynot

I honestly can’t believe some of these comments

I actually want to die
And so does my child

I have a bigger issue now and I have pulled him out of school
I have to rethink our entire lives

I hope that pulling him out of school helps - it is the right thing to do sometimes. Good luck Flowers
Embracelife · 19/11/2020 11:21

Op speak to gp urgently and you can also present at a and e if in distress for urgent psych assessment
LeA can provide alternative efucation
Some pupil referral units are very supportive and individualised

Wrongsideofhistorymyarse · 19/11/2020 11:38

Flowers for you OP and your boy.

Wallabyone · 19/11/2020 12:48

OP, I hope you're ok. You sounds as though you're in a crisis situation, and you really need to shout loud now for support-other people have mentioned lots of agencies that need to be contacted. Do you have a friend or family meme we who can come and help you to do this?

As an aside, did your son ever have any counselling when he lost his father? A lot of his issues now will be tied to that.

Sending best wishes; look after yourself.

CremeEggThief · 19/11/2020 13:59

Joynot, really sorry to hear how bad you are feeling.

Please, please don't listen to all of the nasty, spiteful comments on this thread from people who obviously think they're better parents than you. They haven't a clue and you're a much better parent than they are.

Porridgeoat · 19/11/2020 18:53

Op homeschooling can be amazing for a kid if you build your activities around his interests.

Speak to your GP about how he is feeling and how you are feeling. Get the Gp to put him forward for an camhs assessment urgently.

Porridgeoat · 19/11/2020 18:53

This will pass op. You’ve hit a bump in the road but things will get better

Porridgeoat · 19/11/2020 18:55

And I agree with just letting him and you decompress and spend a couple of weeks doing nice thinks together like baking and country walks and sleeping.

Joynot · 19/11/2020 20:01

Not really with it today
Not much sleep and couldn’t stop crying this morning
Turns out there’s some nasty peer pressure stuff in school which he is totally overwhelmed by.
He completely broken down this morning.
He is so ashamed of his behaviour but it’s so sad because he’s just been trying to fit in. He’s only been at this school for 2 years. So he’s basically given himself this cool badboy persona to make friends and these friends are being very mean. Lots of incidents with lots of kids being upset but too scared to say anything .
He can still do remote learning for a bit until we decide what to do. Homeschooling was strange for us, I actually got more work out of him than the teachers, but it was torture. So I couldn’t do it long term
The cahms letter actually came through this morning, transferring us to an agency for assessment. So that’s in hand.
My brother popped in with some goodies for him and he’s currently doing a zoom boxing class with my sister.

OP posts:
Jimdandy · 19/11/2020 20:04

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