animals

[Liahona]

Its been over two years since we had this problem. I honestly thought we would never have to address it again. Before difficult child 1 went to Residential Treatment Center (RTC) he hated birds; thought they were fighting and it was his job to punish them. He killed several.

Today he has been really happy; fake happy. He talked with therapist and had a good session. therapist reminded me that considering what is coming up difficult child 1 is doing well. (He has still hurt someone or some animal everyday this week; except Friday.) Because of how difficult child 1 thinks I told him he couldn't play game cube after therapist left. (If he gets game cube afterwards he won't talk to therapist except to ask him repeatedly to leave.) I had to fix dinner though. The other kids were downstairs watching tv. The best option was to have difficult child 1 play with water outside. He has a new squirt gun from school. He was out there a few min and I see him with the supersoaker. He looks up at me and laughs manically. "I'm going to get the birds." I tell him "you leave the birds alone." He says o.k. Then I notice the neighbors puppy poking her nose through the hole in the fence. "And the dog." I added. difficult child 1 looked at me like 'what kind of person do you think I am - of course I'll be nice to the dog.'

I went back inside hoping that look was right. I could see him through a window though. At first he took a tricycle apart and tried to feed it to the puppy. I went out and stopped it. He put the tricycle back together and then tried to run over the puppy with it. I went out again. Told him what he was doing wasn't nice. It was mean and to stop. Then I went to the neighbors and asked the husband to come get the puppy.

It started out "you remember my oldest son, the one who has hallucinations, he is escalating and I don't want your puppy to get hurt." I was so embarrassed which isn't a normal response for me. He came and got the puppy. I like this puppy and under other circumstance I don't mind her being in the yard. I also like these neighbors, but they are new. I'm not sure how they are going to respond to this. I get the feeling they already think we're weird. Oh well, I keep telling myself 'this is our normal.' Trying hard to believe it.

 

[Ktllc]

You did just the right thing! For your son difficult child and the puppy. The neighbors can think whatever they want. All I see: a mother who took action to protect everyone from a potentially explosive situation. And you don't have to give any nore explanation to the neighbors than what you've said.
If they one day become friends, you might wish to share more. But today, you were right to the point but still gave a legitimate reason to a request/warning that might seem unsual.
Good job. You handled it very good.

 

[klmno]

I think you did the right thing , too. But what sticks out in my mind most is that You said "when the therapist leaves" or something to that effect- if that means that you have a therapist coming to the home who hs been ordered by dss or Department of Juvenile Justice or another public agency, don't expect much. This is not going to be a very effective therapist most likely. in my humble opinion, they do more "monitoring" than actual therapy and more than half aren't even qualified to gove the basic therapy.

 

[JJJ]

I think you did the right thing , too. But what sticks out in my mind most is that You said "when the therapist leaves" or something to that effect- if that means that you have a therapist coming to the home who hs been ordered by dss or Department of Juvenile Justice or another public agency, don't expect much. This is not going to be a very effective therapist most likely. in my humble opinion, they do more "monitoring" than actual therapy and more than half aren't even qualified to gove the basic therapy.

We have some tdocs that come to the family's home when working with families with young children. The children tend to respond better in their comfortable environment. The ones I had experience with were actually pretty good. Alot depends on their training and personality.

 

[klmno]

Maybe it's just the state I'm in then. In my experience, you're lucky if they have a college background and any training other than how to complete county forms.

 

[Liahona]

We have a great county agency here. The 2 tdocs and the case manager all come to my home. They are great. Sorry you had a horrid experience. Maybe its the directing agency. It wasn't court ordered. They aren't in there to spy on me or judge how I parent. They come because my kids would overwhelm their offices if we came to them. They have small offices and all of us just don't fit. And they know that I can't find a sitter. Its a very family friendly agency.