Hello, I'm a father of a 16-year old teenage son who is fast developing into a rude, selfish, lazy, unreliable, ignorant, and dishonest young man. Counselling has diagnosed him as narcissistic, and has failed to curb his verbal abuse towards his mother and younger sister. He spends most of his time in his room with his gadgets of cyberland, and his schooling has deteriorated accordingly. Last year he was expelled from one high school for repeated incidents of abuse and misbehaviour, and this year he has focused on his muscle-building at the gym, where he cycles to at ridiculous hours of late at night or early morning, 4-5am, after which he's too stuffed to go to school, and consequently has missed many days. We can't force or persuade him to go to school.
His attitude is bordering aggressive, and likes to poke fun at others for his own enjoyment. When he doesn't get his way, he will verbally abuse and always blames everyone else.
Mealtimes are stressful when he's either asleep and comes out later 11pm looking for a feed when we're getting ready for bed, or if he does join us, he resorts to childish attention-seeking noises, disliking the meal, or putting someone down.
This has affected our family to the point where we can't plan family occasions or outings without fear of him ruining it with his attitude. My wife is stressed to the max, has sought counselling of her own, and some days feels like running away. I'm trying to keep it altogether, but it's damn hard.
I just want to know what our legal position is. In days gone by, I could've thrown him out without fear of inflicting child abuse, but we live in a different world today. The wife wants him gone, but legally he's still a minor. Under Family Law, what legal rights do we have as parents here? Do we wait till he destroys something or hurts someone before he's taken away, which he's potentially capable of doing? Do the laws of minors allow us to legally remove him at 18?
His attitude is bordering aggressive, and likes to poke fun at others for his own enjoyment. When he doesn't get his way, he will verbally abuse and always blames everyone else.
Mealtimes are stressful when he's either asleep and comes out later 11pm looking for a feed when we're getting ready for bed, or if he does join us, he resorts to childish attention-seeking noises, disliking the meal, or putting someone down.
This has affected our family to the point where we can't plan family occasions or outings without fear of him ruining it with his attitude. My wife is stressed to the max, has sought counselling of her own, and some days feels like running away. I'm trying to keep it altogether, but it's damn hard.
I just want to know what our legal position is. In days gone by, I could've thrown him out without fear of inflicting child abuse, but we live in a different world today. The wife wants him gone, but legally he's still a minor. Under Family Law, what legal rights do we have as parents here? Do we wait till he destroys something or hurts someone before he's taken away, which he's potentially capable of doing? Do the laws of minors allow us to legally remove him at 18?
