Dear Christina,
I’m sorry to hear about your stepdad’s chronic disease. It sounds like you really have a lot of things going on in your life, and you need to find a way to cope with your stress. Babysitting sounds like it is taking up a lot of your personal time. Would it be possible to try and finish some of the summer homework you have when you are with your little sister? I know it must have been really hard for you to see your parents break down the other night, especially your stepdad. It sounds like you feel really guilty about taunting him and may regret doing that. Would you like to try talking to your parents again? It sounds like you are really worried about what your mom said about wanting to kill herself if your stepdad died. I think that if you have the doubt in your mind that she meant it, you should really talk to her about it and ask her if she was serious about it. I also think it would be beneficial for you to find a good time to talk to them when they aren’t tired, like maybe during the weekend, and apologize for making your parents so upset, but also explain to them the stress that you are feeling. Your parents may not realize that you are also being affected by the things going on in your family life. You could even make a list of the things you want to talk to them about, and explain to them how you feel, and then hopefully you and your parents could talk about it and work out a way for you to have some time for yourself. I think this would be a really good thing for you and may relieve some of your stress. Consider talking to your parents again sometime that works well for all of you, and feel free to email us back or call the Youthline at 1-877-968-8491. I’m glad that you reached out to us, and I hope you are able to work something out with your parents.
-YouthLine