Turning the other cheek

I have my son for the weekend and to say it's been interesting is an understatement. I've stopped mentioning what happened to my missing jewelry because in his own little delusional world he's done nothing wrong and clearly he's the victim in all of this. On his most recent visit to his therapist he blames his lack of performance in school and his anti-social behavior at home with his mother on the fact that he's being falsely accused of something he didn't do. Now under ordinary circumstances, this act may or may not have worked with me, depending on how I'm feeling at that time and my level of compassion. What I'm saying at this point is dam man how long are you going to continue to insult my intelligence! My son is completely indifferent to the pain this is causing me and how much it hurts my heart for this kid to consistently, lie and steal from the only man in his life that actually cares whether he lives or dies. I'm sick of hearing everyone say, "Oh he needs your attention or he's reaching out for help". This is the biggest line of BS I've ever heard because he is so well loved by a list of people, this list includes immediate family, both grand parents, and a variety of friends and extended family that do give a dam! Initially when I would hear that, I would start second guessing myself and my actions with him, but at some point a child has to accept responsibility for their actions, instead of manipulating the situation in their favor.

I don't believe in one universal form of parenting that's applicable to all children, because to me they represent intricate patterns of diversity and what may work well for one child doesn't mean that the next child will respond the same way. The opinions that I get on how to handle this situation are absurdly clinical in some regards, or refreshingly old school! Old school meaning that in situations of hard headedness parents didn't consult Dr. Phil or surfed the net for some anonymous website giving "well researched advise", on how to raise your child, they simply busted that ass till you got the message! Unfortunately I'm not that kind of father, I don't like violence and I'm not an abuser of children, so laying the beats on my son is something I'm just not cut out to do.

This is probably going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done, which is the ability to forgive and continue being a father to my son. I often wish that he had been an acquaintance or even a distant relative, then, how easy it would be to eliminate him from my life and never deal with him or speak to him again. Well life just ain't built that way and sometimes certain situations come back to bite us in the ass. For now all I can do is just keep pushin' and hope that some higher power from somewhere points me in the right direction.