My boy

It's difficult to give a lengthy narrative. My son's problems probably started when he realised his mother was suffering from Huntington's Disease. Like most kids embarking on teenagehood, he often finds it difficult to express his feelings, and even understand them.

He's intelligent, but undersells himself because of the culture he's inclined to associate himself with. Kids who have few boundaries, disruptive home lives, or just plain emotionally damaged seem to gravitate to him - enlist him as one of their own.

A few weeks ago, we discovered he was becoming involved in petty crime. We knew he had an anger problem and we'd all gone to counseling. But the process didn't take. Now, he's been suspended from school pending an expulsion hearing next Wednesday. This was for assault - twice on the same day.

He's also been caught shoplifting, creating a disturbance, sly grogging. We have very little booze in our house. My wife is a Muslim and doesn't drink. My own consumption is the odd beer after work. He's never seen me drunk.

The booze is given to him by friends. We discovered he'd been using tobacco, he claims for a year. The smokes he pinches or is shared by his friends.

As a result of trying to steal from a chain store here, he has a month's sanctions which he has to follow. There are a number of non-association orders, a curfew, letter of apology to the store and community service. He's been trespassed from all three supermarkets and our version of Wallmart, The Warehouse.

I cannot say whether he is conforming to the conditions in a public forum. I will say he is trying hard and we're doing our best to keep him on track. I don't want to see him fail - we will likely lose custody and he'll wind up with Child Services in that case.

The weekend's are tough on us because of the numbers of teenagers out on the street late at night and early morning trying to smuggle in booze and dope. I'm having to patrol, sometimes till 4 in the morning, to keep my boy safe. Hopefully, these guys will now see me as not a soft touch and will stay away. They hang around outside our house and I'll call the police. They turn up with booze and I dump it down the drain in front of them. I then tell them to fuck off in no uncertain terms and if they try aggression , I will drop them, one by one. They now know the score - we will see.

Don