I’m afraid of my own child
My (45m) son (11) has been one of the best things that ever happened to me—until the past year. He has always struggled with his temper, and up til now my wife and I have been able to find a way to help him keep it under control.
Not anymore.
He refuses to follow directions or obey simple instructions (e.g. “Please put on your shoes; we need to get ready to go”). He is verbally and emotionally mean, insulting us calling us and his brother (10) names.
He swears at us, often in truly shocking ways (“You’re a f—— idiot, motherf——”). He says incredibly hurtful/scary things things (“You’re the worst father in the world,” “I wish I could cut off your head and burn your body”).
He is violent toward us, kicking, hitting, throwing things at us; my wife has several bruises from blows. He expresses enjoyment whilst doing these things; he chuckles when he’s violent, and smiles whilst insulting us—it’s truly disturbing.
He used to just do this at home. Now he’ll do it in public, in front of others, and he doesn’t seem to care if others know about it.
If he doesn’t get his way, he won’t let it go, and will degenerate into the sort of verbal, emotional, and physical assault I described above. He has told us that he likes to makes us unhappy and that he wants to embarrass us in public. I think my son, whom I love deeply and intensely is a sociopath.
We took him to a therapist, for a bit, but nothing changed. When we asked about it he said he lied to the therapist about his behavior so the therapist wouldn’t know what he really does.
Now he has an appointment with a doctor specializing in mental health this coming Wednesday, and another with a pediatric psychiatrist at the end of the week. But I just don’t have any hope. My little boy has become a monster. [I literally just had to step away from writing this because he was threatening to hit his mother and brother with a toy].
He’s terrifying. This is a nightmare. I love him so much, and I just can’t help him.