Yeru, very well said. I can see that you totally understand what I was talking about in my post , about reading a diary or journal,,,,,,,,,ONLY , again ONLY, if I thought my child was in serious mental anguish or had some kind of unrepressed boiling inside anger (as in Columbine). I too know where my son keeps things he has written and he leaves his notebook on his nightstand, all I would have to do is flip thru it is I were just snooping. But, we have TRUST,,,,,,, he respects my privacy in my bedroom , therefore I respect his bedroom and his things.
There are too many kids , committing suicide these days,,,,,,,esepcially children, can hide the signs so well , they see the world as having no hope, the peer pressure , not fitting in, or things we as adults may think is no big deal. Maybe they didnt make the honor roll, dropped a pass in a football game, or their girlfriend dumps them. My son got real depressed over a girl one time , it lasted a few days , he was in alot of pain and I know it was real pain. But he didnt at his age realize that the pain would subside, and that there will be other girls. He knows that now and has an even better girlfriend .
Yeru, I have read many of your post and I have always respected your parenting skills. I remember you talking just lately about alot of kids staying at your house. That is cool and you must be loved by many of them for them to feel comfortable in your home and want to be there.
Our home is the same way,,,,,,,,at any given time , almost daily, I have kids from the ages of 9 to 20, over playing the Playstation, with four controllers hooked up to it,,,,,,,,playing that football game, and hollering , screaming, dancin, picking on each other .
It makes me feel good to know these kids, most of which do not have a father in there lives at all, feel like they have a second home and they know we really want them here.
Now they are so comfortable they help themselves to the food on the stove , the fridge etc. because I have begged them to eat for so long, and now they know they have a second home.
I think because of our open home, open mindedness, our son feels he can freely express himself.
I totally grew up the worst dub childhood,,,,,my dad was an elder, he was cruel , harsh at any mistake, beat my butt almost daily, so I made the choice to let my child speak, even allow him to show his anger . I truly believe that if I would not have been such an emotionally repressed robot, I would not have be so depressed as a child. I thought of suicide at a very young age because I was so alone, I was so full of guilt and felt I could never be good enough. I never want my kids to think they can't make a really bad mistake and not be able to come to me about , and we can do the best to make it right.
Sorry this post is so long, but I feel so passionately about doing all we can to keep our kids happy, well and alive.
