Reply To: Going off the Derech

aries2756-I can’t respond right now to everything in your post bc Shabbos is coming. But I do want to say one thing. You said,

“He has picked himself up and done things he would never have dreamed he could possibly do, however they are NOT beneficial to him nor are they wise choices, but he has picked himself up and done them. He has picked himself up and stood up to you and his father. He has gone against everyone who loves him and believes in him because he chooses to do so.”

It’s funny, we are both looking at the same thing and seeing it completely differently. I don’t interpret my son’s collapse as picking himself up. I see it as him breaking emotionally and falling apart, losing himself, becoming lost and confused. In a sense, he became “sick”, manifesting many symptoms of some underlying problem that we didn’t know was brewing. When a child becomes sick chas v’Shalom, is that seen as a rebellion against the parents? I don’t see it as an informed choice at all. He is weak and insecure, and perhaps by not feeling able to make good choices, that in itself is a kind of choice. However, not the kind you are talking about.

Will write more after Shabbos

Wishing everyone a Good Shabbos….