While using the blue line method and helping your 17 year old son get out of Defense Mode and increase his vagal tone, what do you do in the early stages when you see no progress? The grill doesn't get covered, the recycle bin doesn't get emptied, he won't go to bed on time and wakes up the rest of the family (who has to be up early) every night at 1:00 am. The only things that he seems to value enough and doesn't want to lose are going to work (once day per week) and his cell phone. We've tried withholding his phone, but that seems to put him further into DM. So do we just ignore everything he does and find something encouraging to say like, "Well at least he only woke us up at 12:30 am instead of 1:00 am?" "Well, I was on my way out to the trash anyway, so I don't have a problem taking on another one of his tasks?" This seems like enabling him. Am I wrong? On the other hand, keeping him from going to work seems counterproductive because working is a something positive and beneficial in his life.

Posted by Tara23 at 2023-10-14 23:49:43 UTC