SS13 decided last year he wanted to move in with us... so we had him the entire school year. Life around here sucked. His behavior/attitude zapped us all and of course DD8 and DS4 wanted to look up and idolize him, so it corrupted their behavior. He has been gone since the beginning of summer and life is SO much better. We are all much more relaxed and DD & DS are back to behaving. DH says SS is still planning on coming back in a month before school starts. And as much as I am loving summer break, I am really dreading it coming to an end.

DH is very positive thinking that SS will get better... I just dont know that I am up for it. Any recommendations? SS did do much better academically (Cs& Ds to As and Bs), but other than that I was less than impressed. Respect for me was incredibly limited, the attitude was off the charts, backtalking, arguing, over 30+ school write ups, too many (6?) suspensions to remember them all, detentions, and of course lying, stealing, and teasing the animals at home. Sigh. Just typing it out I can't believe we dealt with all that.

At home his BM is present when she wants to be. He doesn't get the family time he wants, but he never tells her that. Even this summer he has spent hardly any time with her. I am just hoping that he will hold up to what he said before... one more year here and then he would move back home with her because she didn't want to miss him learning to drive, prom, etc. I really just dont want to keep my kids living in chaos and tension, and really do not want him influencing them if I can avoid it.