HELP needed with a teenage son not going to school!!

[lauraking72]

My son is 15 and in yr 11, for the past few months we have had problems gettin our him to school, he keeps saying he feels sick so we caled his bluff and took him to the docs a few weeks ago and nothng was found!! He is not being bullied and he is quite well liked with lots of friends at school, we had started punishing him by removing his ipod,mobile and new xbox, now hes got to the stage where he dont care if he no longer has these luxuries. His dad works full time and shift work, i only work 4 hours a day 4 days a week so he is home on his own, i am really at the end of my teather with this and any help or advise will be greatly appreciated.

[LoftyLottie]

So at 16-18 Barmaid, had your parents asked this question, Sqad would have answered that you were one of life's failures ;o(.

There are other ways to succeed in life that do not include qualifications. However, I think it is a great shame that at the time we are expected to get qualifications we are at our most vulnerable and full of hormonal anxst.

[LoftyLottie]

So bedside manner to Sqad is not knowing the whole picture, never having seen the patient and yet informing the patient's relations that in your opinion they are going to die so just accept it!!

[netibiza]

At 16-18 I was defo a failure! but hey, look at me now!

[NOX]

You've had a lot of great advice (if you ignore Squads;-). I would wholeheartedly concur that the way forward is not to punish and seem disappointed but to support and find out why. Some kids do indeed grow so weary of school that they simply won't go ( didn't happen to us because ours were home educated), in which case wild horses won't drag them there. there are many alternative from home schooling to college to simply realissing that your son is not in a place where he will accept any more education at this point. that does not mean that he will be an underachiever, wastrel, drop out etc, it just means that he's at a very difficult time in his life for a boy and that he's feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Cut him some slack, get talking to him, don't rule out him being bullied or depressed or stressed just because it's not obvious and above all don't worry and panic, it's not the end of the world, just a temporary setback if handled right.