Parenting fail or just life as we know it?

Parenting fail or just life as we know it?

Recently I have been asking myself this question virtually everyday.

I have two boys, one aged 13 and the other is 11.

THEY DO NOT GET ON.

In essence they are very, very different personalities, which I think is great. They like different things but also like some similar things too. So why can’t they get along together?

I truly do not know.

Now, I don’t just mean a bit of sibling rivalry, or fighting one minute and then friends the next. NO they are never friends. EVER.

My youngest is a very loud and outgoing character. He has a lot of personality and loves to be centre of attention. My eldest is quieter, more mellow generally and tends to go with the flow, until it involves his brother.

But it is starting to affect the family dynamics.

A family day at home or out is just horrendous. We know it will end in tears, namely ours. It seems as a family we cannot simply enjoy time together, just chatting, laughing and having a joke. My eldest can get very stressed by the whole thing.

At the moment our family life is generally our boys taking themselves off to their separate rooms and shutting their doors to be away from each other.

As parents we try to be fair with their disputes. However, we have noticed more and more that it generally stems from our youngest. He makes fun of his older brother and although we all have jokes at each others expense, his delve into what we believe to be bullying.

Whenever my eldest says anything, and I mean anything, he will be sneered at, or laughed at or belittled as though what he says has no relevance.

We have approached our youngest and explained  how he is behaving.

What makes it worse is that our oldest has very mild Asperger traits ( not fully diagnosed, but noticeable). Again we have tried explaining this to our youngest and have used some books to show him how his brother thinks.

IT DIDN’T WORK. IN FACT IT MADE IT WORSE.

Now, I know you will all be thinking he must be attention seeking. However, he gets a lot more time devoted to him on a 1 to 1 basis because of his acting. I am always with him for auditions and shows. Everything tends to revolve around what he is doing, our Christmas this year was dominated by the fact he was acting in Panto everyday of the holidays.

So I need help. Where are we as parents going wrong?

I cannot see any other reason for it other than our total parent fail!

We try everything, we take things, such as, Ipods  and TV away. There have been times were we have stopped him  going to a party or to friends if he has been particularly bad. We also stand by our word and if we threaten something,  and we ALWAYS carry it through. So you would think he would get the message.

Our main concern is how he treats his brother.

SO I will ask again. Is it A  PARENTING FAIL, or just life as we know it?

Where do we go from here?

It’s quite depressing, for everyone apart from my youngest son.

Parenting fail or life as we know it

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typical male attidute………..at 13!

I think it must just be in a male set of genes ( and I don’t mean the denim type). I’m no worried that I have inadvertently reared ‘another typical bloke’ and he’s only 13!!

Or it may just be the fact he has just soooo much still to learn ( like most blokes!).

Conversation went as follows:

Teen ……’ hey mum they have one of those *nudge nudge* machines in the mens toilets’.

Me……….’ oh yeah, which ones?’ *cough* OMG what is he going to come out with now!

Teen……..’ You know those random ones : Condoms
                                                                    Condoms
                                                                    Condoms
                                                                    Condoms
                                                                    Tic Tacs
                                                                    Condoms

                  ‘I mean (he says laughing) how random is that!! Whats the point?’

Ahh bless ……………………………………………..as a bloke he has a lot to learn!!!!!