My son is 14, and he has been a very good boy, and had to become a man early because he had no father around. He has always been real good at fixing things for me, just a fine little man! Now that my BF and I are all together under one roof, I feel that so far my kids have made an excellent adjustment. We have been happily living under one roof for almost 2 years now. Yesterday, however, we had a test by my 14-year-old teenager.

My BF spent the afternoon tearing down and old swingset for the garbage, and he was cussing and yelling at the job in front of him. After an hour or two, my son decided to go out there and see if he needed any help. Because BF was already in a mood, he growled at my son to go away, and son was hurt by that. BS came in to me and said "If he yells at me again, I'm going to punch him in the fuckin face!" I tried to calm him down and explain to him that sometimes men yell, but they're not yelling at you. Then BF came in and noticed that my son was fixing a computer without asking first, and because he was already frustrated, he raised his voice again. My son took it completely personal and started yelling at my BF saying "What are you to me?" and started posturing like a testosterone-hyped man. My BF was hurt by this, and handled it the wrong way by threatening to kick us out. I have never seen this behavior by either one of these men. Both of them admitted later to handling it the wrong way and appologized to each other. My son was in tears (and short of breath). He was really broken up about it. I know he was sorry, because he really has a lot of respect for my BF. I really think BS was testing BF's authority, as teenagers often do.

Does anyone have any advice concerning my BF's hurt feelings and how he should handle them? I hope I never have to see an outburst like this again!