My son is twenty. He has, thankfully, moved away and has a fairly good job. He has few friends but does have a long-standing girlfriend who, even if she won't set the world on fire, is a stabilising influence on him.
In the two or three years before he moved away, he stole from me and my partner,and also I believe from places he worked at, lied to us,and consistently used foul language in front of us and my daughters. I believe he is a sociopath, disliking and dismissing nice, decent people for no reason. He used to have a good circle of friends at school but has turned into a different child.
We used to be inseparable; his father had nothing much to do with him until he was about four, and when my son was six my husband walked out. Now my son dislikes me, probably because of what his father tells him, and he is much closer to his father, who more or less ignores my daughters.
My son is a bad influence on my daughters, swearing at them, manipulating and trouble-making. He's turned into a clone of his father, and I don't like him. I try to be nice to him but it's very difficult.
This is not a complete picture of the situation but I'm devastated that the child I so adored, and wish I still could, has gone. I try to be nice to him; he still rings me but we have nothing to talk about - and anyway I don't believe anything he says.
I think he needs me but he doesn't know it. I want to be able to help him become the nice, rounded and happy person he should have been, but he doesn't seem to like me at all. I have helped him financially in the past when I could - his father left us with nothing and having to claim benefits, which was dreadful. I'm working now but money is still an issue.
How does one get over a dislike of one's own child?