The hardest thing to deal with as a parent is a kid who fails to listen and take responsibility for their own actions. I have at least one of those, and the one in question is generally a really good kid, but he’s selfish at times. He takes his parents for granted (all three of mine and one of hers entirely do). What screws me up is when I’m treated like my needs and wants are meaningless and, instead, I am the help. that stuff breaks me and makes me feel like I shouldn’t be putting in the time and effort I do in order to develop and continue these relationships and to make his life good. I’m frankly sick of it. The situation always spirals and winds up ruining everything else in my life. More often than not I spend the week I don’t have them making up for the week that I do.
Consequences ought to change things, but I’m not sure they will or even how to enforce such things on a week on/week off basis. I’m struggling and at times I feel completely helpless and alone in the struggle. It feels like a battle where there is no wall to back against because it is coming at me from all sides and nobody is going to step in to help me. Instead, anything I do is going to make everything worse. That’s when I get defensive and worried about all of it and, as a result, make everything worse. This is not sustainable.
Some Thoughts:
- The general model of TV shows is broken. These shows are being structured and forced to function as forever shows–especially comedy shows and sit-coms. A show needs an expiration date, because then you can create moving story arcs. The one exception to that rule appears to be soap operas, and they just keep shifting and moving and creating new arcs as they go. There’s something to that worthy of exploration for those who want the never-ending TV series. The way they’re building them now just isn’t a lasting model.