Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Very weird teenage behaviour

13 replies

RnldsKat · 23/05/2021 01:01

So this is about my 13 yr old sister.
I’m 11 years older than her, so pretty much remember her growing up from the moment she was brought home. She was always a very normal child, nothing unusual. She always was very open and had positive attitude, but this had changed dramatically over the last 2 years.
So it started off as she came out to us as a lesbian (at the age of 11) we were all very accepting of this and never questioned anything. Then after a few months she claimed to be a bi, again all family just accepted it, then she decided she was heterosexual and then back again to being a lesbian. No one ever was judging or commenting on her sexuality, simply just accepting it. Then slowly she started to ignore most of the family, lost pretty much all of her friends, changed her hairstyle dramatically (she had long blonde hair now it is a boy type haircut and black hair) again, no one was judging her on that, everyone supportive of her finding her style etc. She started to show aggression recently and anti-social behaviour like joking about how she wished her nephew dead (he’s only 4 m and she barely sees him, so not like the baby would have annoyed her in any way) she was self harming for the past year, very blunt and rude towards mum, her classmates report her to teachers for saying some dark stuff (like mentioning she want him to be dead etc), she shows aggression in front of everyone now, she refuses to talk even though all family begs for it, her school called multiple times to say she had unusual behaviour and they suggest therapy. The whole family tried so hard to do something for her (last summer she said she is unhappy and wants some happy moments) so mum splurged on a London trip and shopping that my sister really wanted only for my sister to say it wasn’t good enough and did not change anything for her. She constantly talks to herself about the anime she watching (or to the characters while watching it), she doesn’t want to communicate with anyone and prefers to lock up in her room, even when everyone begs for her to come out to take her shopping or a day out of her choice. She refuses. Recently she claimed she is non-binary and wants to try to live and look like a boy so everyone would be confused when looking at her (literary what she said) so seems like attention seeking to me tbh, but never said that to get.
Then she claims she is neglected and a disappointment to the family. NO ONE ever said anything like that to her, everyone tried to support her. We figured she is in need for some professional help that had been suggested by the school. But the problem is - we have been in contact with many well-being establishment and she refuses to get help so they say they can’t do anything if she doesn’t want to get help.
Now we are so confused on what to do :/ we know she needs help and we just can’t seem to get it and we are so worried she would do something to hurt herself or anyone else :/ someone suggested she’s just a teenager, but this just does not come across as a normal teenager act out to me, it is a bit too far now,
Sorry for the essay here, but I’m just so lost and worried, any advise would be greatly appreciated

OP posts:
InspectorHastings · 23/05/2021 07:58

First thing that sprung to mind to me - is the narrative which goes along with the trans message. I presume she's been watching videos along the lines of 'are you trans' if she considers herself non-binary. These explain to kids that their parents may not accept or understand them, which may explain what you've been experiencing? I'd thoroughly recommend'Irreversible damage' by Abigail Shrier. I think you'll recognise an awful lot of what's said.

Hellocatshome · 23/05/2021 08:27

She sounds very influenced by Anime, wanting people to be confused when the look at her, short dyed back hair etc. I dont know any answers though.

RnldsKat · 23/05/2021 13:49

Hi, thank you for suggestion of the book, I have looked into it and will be reading it as well as my mum. What you are saying about the videos, yes I had thought that before as she is stuck on YouTube most of her time, so probably could have been influenced by that

OP posts:
malificent7 · 24/05/2021 15:48

My step dd is into anime but not aggressive. Sounds like a trans thing/ tern angst.

Mediumred · 24/05/2021 20:41

Hi, am so sorry, this sounds incredibly hard and you all must be so worried about her. We are going through something similar with my 13-year-old although she is engaging with Camhs. They think she is autistic and has been masking it all this time, I’m not sure as she was such a normal, lovely little girl and never had any issues making or keeping friends.

I don’t have much practical advice apart from to try to keep communication open, even if it’s a nice text, she might read it even if she doesn’t respond, write her a note, even if she rips it up, when she comes through this she will remember that you reached out, can you ask her about her interests, watch some of the anime with her, maybe forget s shopping trip but get her a little online gift card so she can buy herself some merch.

I know this all sounds counter intuitive when she is being so vile but she sounds quite fragile, she is still so young to be so very unhappy. Can school organise some therapy, is there one teacher she is a little closer too who might be able to persuade her?

I’m so sorry. You have probably tried all of this.

RnldsKat · 24/05/2021 21:13

@Mediumred Hiii, sorry to hear you are struggling with something similar :( this is just so unfortunate what both us and you have to go through

I must say, as soon as all the issues started to happen with her, autism was something that we highly suspected and still think it could be that , here is a few red flags we noticed

  • not socialising / scared of socialising (like one time I drove her to McDonald’s and the drive through was impossible to get into so I asked her to go in and order that way which she absolutely refused to unless I come with) though she is okay with going to a small shop that is in our village , but wouldn’t go somewhere bigger or more crowded
  • she can be very rude and I don’t think she finds it inappropriate (before I used to think she is just a teen and that’s what they do, but hers is a bit over the top)
  • She admitted to lose some friends because she embarrassed/ humiliated them in front of other friends (she admits she was wrong and what she did wasn’t good but she still thinks it wasn’t big) well, it was
  • the anime. she is totally obsessed with it, I caught her IRONING pages of a book that was slightly creased because it was in her bag and she would randomly say something about some of the characters that make no sense to everyone else who doesn’t watch anime and she expects us to understand it

We did try the Amazon gift cards which she was happy with but got herself an anime themed outfit that looked like it was purchased from Ann summers and definitely not age appropriate 😂 I mean I did find it quite funny tbh and it made her happy most of all, but my poor mum couldn’t imagine going food shopping with her dressed like this.

I will try to watch some anime with her to hopefully get her to open more , so thank you for that suggestion

About the school, oh they were useless unfortunately :( they see she is unwell and needs help, they see there are issues and concerns coming from her classmates, from us, but they just either tell us to contact gp or give us contacts of well-being establishments that can’t do anything unless she agrees to communicate, which she doesn’t. I do hope to get something from the GP because the way it is going with her acting out, she makes me worried about her or mum that she lives with, it is getting to a scary point now :( so I hope they will agree to do some evaluation even if she is not happy about it 🙁 I just really think at this point if we just let her refuse help and be the way she is it is not going to end good

Thank you so much for your response and again, very sorry to hear you are having similar issues

OP posts:
Mediumred · 25/05/2021 08:13

Gosh, that does all sound really concerning. Camhs recommended us the book the Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide, it is actually by a young autistic girl and is aimed at teens, there’s still a lot of it that doesn’t ring true for my DD but it might be worth a read, it’s very well written and accessible. Do you think you could raise the possible issue with her and ask if she would like to look into pursuing a diagnosis?

My DD doesn’t come out of her room much and is hard to communicate with which is why Camhs suggested texts and notes. Every day I just send her a little WhatsApp, maybe a funny meme, pic of the dog or news story I have seen, she doesn’t often respond but sometimes does. I don’t bombard her but I tell her I love her in them too, she had developed an obsessional hatred of me so it was a way of keeping lines of communication open, there are glimmers now of things improving slowly.

I think trying to show an interest in her interests would really help too.

Could she come over to yours maybe for an anime evening? Maybe wear her outfit, you eat popcorn? She show you some of her fave episodes? Is it your little boy she was so unkind about though? Do you think that is just posturing? My DD can say some quite callous things but really it’s just talk I’m sure she would never do anything.

School really need to step up, could you ask for a meeting with the senco to discuss your Autism concerns. GP a v good idea too.

You really sound an amazing sister to be so concerned. Can I ask one more thing, that you look out for your poor mum too. Even if your sis won’t engage then your mum probably needs some help for herself or just to offload, I have found my experience so gruelling, I have felt close to despair but some good friends support has been invaluable.

Thanks for your kind words and I am so sorry you are going through it too

UrsularghWigins · 25/05/2021 09:16

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Seesawmummadaw · 25/05/2021 09:22

@UrsularghWigins ‘ I am brain. So if youre dorter is bretending to be non-binary just tel her to shut up.’

?

Seesawmummadaw · 25/05/2021 09:22

In fact the whole post Ursula

Lovelanguedoc · 25/05/2021 09:25

Seesawmummadaw. In fact the whole post Ursula
Indeed. Very odd.

UrsularghWigins · 25/05/2021 09:39

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

justanotherneighinparadise · 25/05/2021 09:45

I would want to analyse the time where things changed. I think you said around the age of 11 she came out as a lesbian. What else was going on at this time? Any big changes? Is there a chance that something else might have happened that kickstarted everything else?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread