Parenting teens in 40s
Hello all. I am 42 and seem to have reached a low point in life. Historically I’ve been a pretty happy satisfied person so this has caught me off guard. It’s a terrible haunting depression that seems endless and debilitating. A few years ago, I was gearing up for a career change to midwifery (6year plan). I was sailing along in my nursing prereqs. Kids were getting older and more self sufficient. Then we moved to a new state, and the 12 year old started tattooing and cutting herself. Her formerly beautiful and happy demeanor has transformed into sad dark depression. She now looks like a really bad version of ally sheedy in the breakfast club. She has been suicidal and says she’s pansexual (ultimately that’s fine but obviously a complicating factor at 12). She is on the max Prozac and meets with a therapist weekly, but it never seems like much changes. The 16 year old constantly tells me to F off and leave him alone so he can play video games. They are in their rooms constantly and won’t do extracurriculars. My friends say about their kids “well I MAKE them do swim team!” And I’m like wow ok why can’t I achieve these results and I feel like crap. I can’t regain traction in my prereqs; chemistry is kicking my ass. It’s so hard for me. Plus I work 4 days a week and have to perform well. I do have a nice husband (not kids father) but I can’t talk to him all the time about my depression and listlessness. It makes him feel hopeless as well. I do try to go to yoga or hike w my dog everyday. Also I’m a member of a high demand Christian religion of which I’ve basically lost all faith over the last few months. The leadership is completely out of touch. It taught that if I raised my kids with these good principles they taught, then my kids would be happy and love the gospel as well and follow in a good path. Well, my kids hate church and are atheists and want nothing to do with it. I am trying to still believe in a god who can help me, but it’s been unmooring to realize that what I thought was true my entire life isn’t and because it’s my family culture, it’s not easy to extract myself from. Anyway, it feels like an endless treadmill and nothing has an easy answer. I feel like if my kids were happy and open to peaceful relations with me, then I could be happy. I know this is wrong—that I’m responsible for my own happiness. But the circumstances really get me down most days. I don’t want to take antidepressants because of potential weight gain and sexual interference. Thanks for reading. I’m not necessarily looking for advice about the kids as it just makes me feel more like a failure because I’ve literally tried everything. I’m more just wondering if anyone here can relate to the feelings of failure and depression and wondering what the point is.
You are not alone!!!
You so aren’t alone. I’m in in healthcare and while my brain has been so centered on my patients and trying to get in a position to further my career...all my kids have gone off track. I feel you. Hang in there!
Oh my gosh!! I too am in my 40s I have teenagers my 12 yr old whom is emo now and apparently also is believed to be bisexual and a 15 yr old enemy and my 19 yr old who left home also none of them believe in god and I’m seeking him more then ever. I have lived my kids and went through a divorce and got into a relationship I am here on this app because I am intentional seeking mental clarity and hope that connecting with others may help my heart goes out to you I am a great mother I love my kids I work so hard for them and do my best with what I can and what I have. Our life has been one of them surviving cancer, loosing a one month old brother, divorce, blended family, moving multiple times, switching schools multiple times, biological father not being present, my own personal issues like having a tumor that affects my hormones given I have it on my pituitary gland, all elements that has now created my kids to rebel and create their own world to shut down into and also isolate in their rooms on their phones all day every day if possible. I was raised with god in our home, I was raised in a good home, I am close to my siblings and parents who are still married (over 25 yrs now) i believe there is hope girl! I know I feel it! Hugs to you
Also.. I work in healthcare I haven’t stopped given the pandemic and even that on top of it all has been hard on my kids who homeschooled alone while I pulled 12 hr shifts around COVID I am a single mom doing it it alone as far as parenting.
My kids refuse extracurriculars also - it sucks and does totally make me feel like a failure. The endless treadmill in your 40s is no joke. I think you are doing everything you can - sometimes there are just troughs in life. Also religion and God aren’t the same - I pick and choose with my religion to find where I actually feel the spirit if I do at all. I like the poem Wild Geese by Mary Oliver - its a good reminder that we are already enough.