Residential treatment is definitely a parents test of patience. My son has now been away from home for a year and I miss him so much. This is one of the most difficult processes I have ever experienced. Why? As a parent you really have to let go. Letting go of a troubled adolescent teen should not be that difficult, but the truth of the matter it comes so prematurely in the parent, child relationship.
I remember one year we went away during the Thanksgiving Holiday. We flew home on Thanksgiving Day and as we drove home we could see all the families with candle lit dinners. That year we never really had the traditional Thanksgiving, but how can you have Christmas if you have not had Thanksgiving? It is just not right so, we ended up having a Thanksgiving Dinner when we got back, because the process of events was not right.
Well, that is what RTC feels like, the parenting progression of events is not right. I watch the other kids, riding their bikes, playing sports, hanging out with friends. Then I think of my child, living in a RTC. It is so hard and you feel so alone.
This week our child was supposed to come home on a LOA (leave of absence). But was caught breaking the rules, therefore the visit is cancelled. I feel like someone just put a sledgehammer through my head. I have to disengage, I cannot allow this to control my life, but sadly it does.
For all the parents out there with Teens in RTC or a Therapeutic Boarding School, we need to constantly remind outselves we ARE doing the right thing.
No related posts.
Posts
