Question
Hi John,
Since I am a stay-at-home mother I am the main parent disciplining my 14-year-old son and our relationship is fractious and full of tension. He doesn't work hard in school unless we push him to do so, but he works hard on video games, snap chatting friends, listening to music, TV watching, and sports. He's very disrespectful to me verbally, and to his sister. He does his chores (his own laundry, meals for the family, dogs, dishwasher, etc) and he completes his homework for the most part. I took away the xbox for good because he was playing 5-8 hours a day this summer. He explodes at me when I ask him to do new chores, set limits on the cell phone (he plays video games nonstop on it) or ask questions about homework when he feels he's done it. My husband hates conflict and doesn't always support me and spends more time talking about issues whereas I tend to act -- both approaches are good but my son says he hates me almost every day and I do worry about our relationship going forward. Can you suggest anything to remedy this situation?
