An 11-year-old Colorado boy has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly killing his 5-year-old brother last week

Wow, I’m so sorry you had to grow up like that. I have to say though, you’re a gifted writer and I bet you could write a very fascinating book about your experiences

Man, I had a similar childhood, and my therapist said the same thing.

It boils my blood that people still think that someone that is conventionally attractive or nice wouldn’t harm someone. I have heard it so many times working in healthcare. “Mrs. Smith wouldn’t hit her children, she volunteers at the shelter” “James wouldn’t deny his children food, he’s always sharing at work.” “You must have been misbehaving.”

God, I’m so sorry you went through all of that. I have a child of my own, and simply can’t imagine intentionally harming this vulnerable life that I chose to bring into the world. You sound like a very reflective, empathetic person, and I hope you’re doing well in spite of all you’ve been through.

Jesus Christ. I am so sorry you had to experience a psychopath. No adult should have to deal with that, let alone a defenseless child. The only positive is that it made you who you are today and you’re a survivor. But lord. I wish I could punch your mother in the face. Disgusting.

I am heart broken to read this account, and struck by how well you not only survived, but sought the correct help for yourself. You message reads as one from a very self aware, emotionally intelligent person. If you had any doubt, your suffering seems to have made you pursue a course to a place where you now can hekp lots of people. Incredible.

This is some Michael Myers shit

My kid has the entitlement lever stuck switched on, but he and I have an extremely close and loving bond and he’s still a very sweet kid. We have him in therapy which he loves. He started going to therapy in I think 4th grade and has continued off and on over the years as things came up. It’s helped a ton.

We are working on healthy boundaries. Mine is almost finished with kindergarten, so we are still trying to make sense of the world around us. So whenever she yells at her mom because she didn't get her way over something or she has a meltdown over not getting tv time or something, we generally have to take a moment to reset - which feels like punishment to her, but we are working on reframing it. After we get our feelings in check, we take some time to talk about what happened and how it made everyone else feel and what we are going to do to make it right. And sometimes we have to repeat the exercise a few times (had an hour-long struggle over washing hands to help make dinner the other day). What I've noticed, though, is I generally get better behavior than my wife, and it's because I'm a lot more consistent and I value self-discipline. My kid knows that she can just throw a tantrum and get a free pass for bad behavior in front of my wife. I don't give in very often, so the behavior tends to be different. Instead of a screaming fit, I get a series of complaints, which will open a door for redirection. If she's begging to eat a bunch of candy, for example, and my wife says no, she'll start jumping and screaming about how it's unfair. If I say no, she already knows that if she starts jumping and screaming, we will drop the conversation and she will have to go sit somewhere quiet til she calms down (usually I park her on the stairs or on the couch with the tv off. Occasionally she will get out of control and have to go to her room). So rather than an outburst, she persists "but I'm hungry!" So this is my opportunity to explain that candy isn't food and it won't fill you up. Let's go make some veggie dip together and have some carrot sticks. And it works. But I'm also human, and I've been working with my therapist on keeping my feelings in-check too. Today she was tearing into my wife about her school clothes, because of some theme day they are having. So I finally just got tired of the disrespect and snapped at her and grounded her from screen time for the rest of the day. This is generally not how we solve problems in our house, so I'll have to walk it back later. But she actually respected the decree and turned down watching netflix on Mom's phone while the baby got dropped off at daycare. So we are learning.

Yup. This was my mom. She was proud of the fact that her parents had to cage her as a toddler because she kept escaping her play-pen and hurting the family dog. Eventually they literally screwed plywood into place on the top and locked it at night. (1940s wooden play-pen.) She’s thought it was the funniest thing in the world. That’s how I know a lot the stories- she’d recount them gleefully while family members who were there to witness it originally looked really uncomfortable. Poor dog.

Someone in full blown psychosis should never be dismissed. They can't be reasoned with. It's their "truth", their "memories", their voice(s) against you. It sounds like your friend is safe thankfully, I hope he has moved or his BIL is getting the help he needs!

I've only heard raisins speak fondly about you.

Oatmeal scotchies are leagues better.

"Bombs" more like just air popping bottles. BTW, I was on the USNS Comfort in New Orleans. We were ported in the lower 9th by what is now called Crescent Park.

Thankfully for me, my fantasies were all in the "Save the school in some dramatically action hero way and they realize I'm not someone who deserves their bullying." direction.

Even 30 years later that part still exists

Not good, but I have a partner and friends. I haven't talked to my mother in a year. A few years back, I went off about how I had to leave the family and move to another state to be safe. She regrets her choices, but that doesn't bring me much comfort. I've barely spoken to my father since I was 12. He made a joke about having one less mouth to feed if brother murdered me. I cut off my sister because she said some awful shit about my being abused and neglected wasn't a big deal. It's easy for her to live in denial because she wasn't there. She was barely around once she got a car at 16 - I was 5. I don't blame her for having her own life and leaving. I won't be lied to about my childhood by someone who was living in another city. I reconnected with my aunt and uncle in my 30's. We talk regularly.