October 29, 2004 (idea)

My parents are now going to counseling sessions together. Although I'm glad they're finally doing something about their hardly-there relationship, I'm too old for it to really matter to me. Our house has always been a silent and volatile one, where no one wanted to be around anyone else. It's funny. For so long, it never even occurred to me that I could actually share something, a feeling, an experience, a secret, with another person. For so long, not even the possibility of this entered my mind. It never really occurred to me that I was truly capable of the thing that seemed to come so naturally to everyone else.

It's no wonder my brother is having trouble sleeping, living in a house with basically two strangers. It's no wonder my brother works as much as possible. It's no wonder my brother has been seeing a shrink.

And my mother wonders why he has his problems.

I think this could very much be the case with many children of the modern world. It's been said that childhood depression and suicide are at an all time high. Parents see signs that their child is depressed and wonder why. "He has a roof over his head, a place to sleep, food to eat, an education, and all the modern electronic gizmos he could want. What is wrong with him?" Your child isn't an entity that requires variables X, Y, and Z to stay functioning. How about talking to, relating to your child. How about actually looking at your child as a young human being, capable of just as much, if not more, than you are. How about dealing with situations as they arise with the wisdom you've collected over the years, instead of looking to TV anti-drug ads and Good Housekeeping articles for instructions on what to do. How about treating your child for who she is, instead of who she should be. Slow down and be human. Is that too much to ask?


So yeah, I haven't been around in a while. I hope to write more in the future, but my mood tends to swing and that could very well change. An additional and belated thank you for the warm welcome I received when I first created an account and all the compliments and encouragements I got from my w/os :).