When I was still a young teenager myself my oldest brother, 19 years my senior, got married and had a son with his then wife. My brother worked a lot of long hours during the day and evening and his wife ended up at first what we believed was post-partum depression, but then it turned out that she was schizophrenic. She just couldn’t handle carry for my baby nephew and he was in fact being neglected when my brother was not home to care for both the baby and his wife.
My mother and I stepped and took care of the baby, and for most of his first year of life he lived with us. I was just 12 at the time and it felt like I was already a mother, especially considering that my own mother was getting close to 60 at the time and tired more easily than when she had her own children to care for. Believe me, after that I knew I didn’t want to get pregnant as a teen!
My brother and his wife eventually broke up, and since custody was normally given to the mother back in those days my little nephew ended up living with his maternal grandparents because his mother was just too ill to care for him properly.
Just to keep a long story short, lets just say that as a teen my nephew didn’t do very well. I don’t know if it was his messed up upbringing or the fact that much of his maternal family had a history of mental illness, but when my nephew eventually returned to live with his father he was a hellion.
He tried to set fire to the house with my brother in it, and made what we are sure a few other attempts on his life, stole things and did all kinds of cruel things. He eventually took off at 16 and lived on his own in a number of different cities throughout North America.
I’m happy to say that he got his life back in order and he’s married and a father himself. I honestly never thought that he’d straighten out.
If there ever was a candidate for Boot Camp my nephew surely was one. I only wish that we’d thought of putting him into a boot camp when he was still a teen because he might have straightened his life out that much earlier.
Boot-Camp-Boot-Camps.com is a great site for anyone looking for information on the various types of boot camps available. They have listings for Military style boot camps and Teen Boot Camp – Help For Troubled Teens. It seems that they have listings for most of the United States and Eastern Canada.
Originally boot camps were started as an alternative to jail for troubled teens, but now there are several types of boot camps available. There are State/Province run camps, as well as private camps.
These camps challenge teens mentally and physically and give them some order in their lives. I know that some of the kids that have gone through these programs really straighten out. They go back to school and get their life in order.
If you, or someone you know has a troubled teen, you might want to visit Boot-Camp-Boot-Camps.com and see what types of camps are available for the child, as well as read through the many articles and resources on the site.
What you said about not wanting to become a teen mother after having to take care of your nephew reminded me of my eldest son. He was 13 when my daughter was born, and when she was a toddler she loved to follow him around and bug him to death. LOL He looked at me one day and said, “How do you do it, Mom??”, to which I replied, “Just remember this day when you’re older and have a girlfriend!”. LOL!