My sister is scared to death of katydids she gets freaked out every time she sees one she loves summer but she hates them. She wishes they come out in the winter when she can't be outside. She's scared of them because they look like a walking leaf she use to be scared of leaves when she was little. If one comes near her she freaks out or if one flies near her she acts like she's gonna have a heart attack. She heard that online there's some kind of vortex that has killed over 50 million stink bugs she wishes it would kill katydids. I don't get why she's scared yes they look like a leaf and fly at you but they don't have stingers they can't bite they can't do nothing they're one of the nicest bugs I keep telling her that but she wants nothing to do with them. She don't go out at night much in the summer anymore also she's scared to go camping because of them. How can I help her get over this fear ?

Is that normal? My mom seems to have mental health problems and has always made bad decisions since I can remember. Sometimes I will be caught up in my thoughts and need to snap back to what I'm doing. I think this has a lot to do with the job I have right now. I don't think this job is for me and all I can think about is helping my mom and my family be more together. My uncle died years ago and that still destroys us all emotionally. I decided a long time ago to not waste time living a miserable life for the sake of my beloved uncle. Guess I just have to work more towards a better financial situation. I can think of many ways to improve my situation but I am only asking is it normal to not able to concentrate with all this? My grandmother always cries, my mom always cries and my dad is too depressed to even talk to anyone.

So my bf & I r so happy.We truly connect,we r each others half.We dont fight & if the other one gets up set we talk through it.I didnt grow up in a normal stable fam.See my moms side of the family hated my dad's & visvera.My bf fam is dad which is always right.hewill spend days proving someone wrong in the fam.His mom pushes people's buttons pretty well.idk how to act inanormal fam setting.i never want to get in the middle of a guy & his fam. His fam & buds than me is how I see it.he always makes it out to be me than buds than me.the father stayed quiet.he didnt say more than 100 words to me in 3 days.i left drove back home.Which was 6 hours away.my boyfriend stayed& he going to the west coast for deployment for 6 months.That night my bf called me.told me his father called me a control freak and a liar and that I was spoiled and ungrateful.that I never said thx u(which I thought i was saying it too much)that i never offered to clean the dishes (i did ask if they needed help. I just didnt define the word "help") I should also say.The mom & dad arent happy they just fight all day and night. My bf keeps saying **** it Idc.Just keep ur head up and I'll stuck up for u.But that's the thing I dont want him to have to.is there anyway I can get them to accept me?if not than a way for me to deal with my own emotions about this? dont want him to avoid them.yes he already has over the years.But now they will blame it on me. any advice means a lot.we are to be engaged before the new year.

My Dad seems VERY unstable but swears I am the Dalai Lama and that my half-sister (his former step-daughter), is the enemy creature seeking to destroy me and man of the earth.

We have not spoke in over 13 years. I have not seen her children other then her one son I saw once. My sister is an abusive narcissist. Do I go see her at the hospital? Do I attend the funeral? I want to give my regards to her 3 children but what do I say since she is the estranged sister? Do I act like I am sad she died? Do I acknowledge the estrangement? Please advise.

So my family got an exchange student a few months ago. She is very anti-social, she comes home from school and sits in her room and stays on her computer until she is called down for dinner. This is especially hard for me because I share a room with her, and several times she locks the door, forcing me to sleep in a different room. Above this, she is very promiscuous. I accept that she has a sex life, but the manner in how she participates in it shows her low morality, (One night stands, sleeping around and having threesomes.) I try several times to confront my parents about the situation, but the exchange student is very manipulative, to an extent where she lies so much that my parents blame me for all of her indiscretions. She is staying for 3 months and I cannot take it anymore. I want her to move out, she is taking over my room and making my parents believe everything she says, disregarding whatever i tell them. What should i do? I've tried talking to my parents but nothing will work! Do i need to contact her exchange program or do something drastic so my parents realize who this girl really is.

and my mother and her parents and other relatives are Russians. Sorry for my English, I'm Russian speaking

What am I supposed to do now? That was my Dad s only friend. I can t even get a new one because my dad has tagged it.

So I have an opportunity to move away from Louisiana to Wisconsin. I can leave by train in a month or by plane in July. But...I can't seem to stop crying when I think about leaving my family behind. My stepmom and stepsister, my grandma, my mom and sister, just everyone. I want to leave so bad. But I can't stand the thought of them crying over me leaving. How do people do this? Serious answers only plz?

I could not be a normal kid cause of her. I long for my childhood.

some of her other answers include "move out", "god dont make junk" or "im only 4ft5"

I live in England and only have second cousins and a great great aunt that live in the US. But after I took a DNA test with Ancestry, it shows I have about 10 4th cousins in the USA, but how is that possible when my great great aunt is the only one who migrated there?

I worry about my siblings very much they are older than me however cannot support themselves financially and generally. This is partially my parents fault , one or my siblings suffered with mental health and now has a mild mental disability every time I try to suggest a visit to a doctor or councelling I get abuse, he does not clean himself or do any chores or work. My other sibling does not have a disability but waits for handouts from parents and refuses to work for anyone else . What do I do I care about them but also feel like there's nothing I can do I just worry when my parents pass away how will they cope , my parents are loving but never taught us independence unfortunately and never address issues they rather brush it under the rug and hope things will get better

We would just go out for a dinner. But i honestly dont want her to go and i feel that that since its been a day that i have been waiting for for a good while, i want to be happy and relaxed and just have a good time. Just seeing her puts me in a bad mood and I dont want to feel upset at all and not have to deal with the judgmental looks that she gives me . She has also disrespected my mom and dad so why would i want a person who doesnt like me and who wont talk to me, who's disrespected me, my mom and dad at my wedding? If it were a huge wedding, i honestly wouldnt have cared. But since its a more small and personal wedding and a small dinner i really dont feel like feeling the bad vibes and the attitude she gives off. Ive tried to get along with for 2 years and we just can't. My fiancee is fine with it since he's never really had a great relationship with her either. He just feels upset that we couldnt get along obviously and he doesnt want me to have a rocky relationship with his mom and dad. Its my day and i feel that its okay for me to just have this one request. But i dont know.. advice or thoughts?

I'm 17 and I've been babysitting for this family a bit. They just have one baby and he's three months old. At first they paid my usual price but they asked me to babysit for two nights for $50 a night which would be about $6 an hour. They live pretty far too and they said they had someone else who can do it so I said no. They talked to me again and said the other person couldn't so they could do $65 a night and I agreed but I didn't realize they thought it would be a regular job. They want me to go twice a week I think, but I don't think I even want to do that because it's kinda rough working at night for me. I can't just tell them I'm unavailable because they don't really care when I go, they just want some sleep. Also, there mom is a friend of my mom's and my thinks I should do it. How do I tell them no... I'm very bad at saying no

So recently my brother dropped out of college and now all he does is watch anime and play video games all day. My mom and I can't even watch tv anymore. He never wants to do anything but sit down and play games and when my boyfriend was over we asked my brother to help us put the trash out and all he did was whine and complain. He was using my boyfriends funimation account to watch anime and my boyfriend recently kicked him off and now my brother says its unfair even though hes not the one paying for it. My mom and him also got into an argument and he told her to f-off all because she asked him to do dishes and he didn't want to because he was to busy playing games. Sometimes we'll be watching shows and he'll make comments that are really uncalled for and then complained because we told him that its not fair that we watch stuff and he talks through it and he claimed it was different because hes not watching it and its unfair when we talk when hes watching things because he needs to be fully focused. He keeps telling my boyfriend to make his account primary on his game system so he can get all the games and add-ons to games and threw a tantrum when my boyfriend kept saying no because he has his own that he plays on at his house. Whenever asked to do anything he will be so distracted by an anime or video games that we have to tell him almost 5 times before he pays attention and even then he doesnt do it. What can we do to get him to stop all of this and to actually act his age?

I have been having some issues regarding my Dad and I. He is forcing me to get a job even though I have been applying and trying to get jobs for the past month. Its come to the point where we have had conversations and its gotten so out of hand I have to leave the house cause he gets so angry at the matter. No abusive behavior has taken form yet but I am afraid it might. My mom is also on my side he has been quite rude to her when she tries to intervene and help the situation heal, any suggestions?

My sister is such a big slob and so gross!! She leaves her clothes and food wrappers everywhere and she burps and farts loudly all the time and it's so gross and it stinks. I tell her it's rude and gross but she just laughs and keeps doing it! Her room is a messy and it smells so bad and at dinner she chews with her mouth open and burps loudly and my parents don't do anything! Pls help!!

Im 20 years old and have lived in the same house with my parents since I was about 8. My parents now would like to move about 5 hours away. They gave me 2 options to move up with them or to rent me out an apartment where I currently live to finish school. I need advice, should I move with my parents or stay down here where all my friends are and where my childhood began.

Are your parents divorced? Has there been sexual abuse in your family? In your extended family? Has there been a suicide in your family or extended family? Is there an alcoholic in your family or extended family? Has there been a drug death in your family or extended family? What percentage of your extended family is estranged from you or your parents? Did a non-parent raise you? Was Christmas and other holidays difficult for you due to family dysfunction? Do you have animosity towards any members of your family? Is anyone in jail in your family or extended family? Has anyone been murdered in your family or extended family? Have their been multiple marriages for couples in your family or extended family? Has domestic violence occurred in your family or extended family? Do you wish you could disown anyone in your family or extended family? PLEASE ANSWER EACH QUESTION. SURVEY FOR MY FAMILY DYSFUNCTION PROJECT.

I'm turning 18 in a month and my mom just put cameras all around the house because I like my brother's best friend who lives with us. Is that considered okay? I'm really mad about it and want to take them down that's why I would like to hear other's opinion about it. Please tell me if you agree or disagree.

My mom is nearly 80 and has mild memory and dementia problems. I have supported her emotionally and financially for over 20 years, while my alcoholic and verbally abusive brother has done nothing to help her at all. He finally lost his job 5 years ago to drinking, and moved in with my mom, though he moved out and back in several times due to drinking and homelessness. Now he's in a sobriety program, and my mom can't wait for him to come "home" to her house. Of course she won't demand that he gets a job, or any accountability at all. And of course she expects me to still help with her bills and figure out her Medicare etc. etc- AND keep my mouth shut about my brother. I don't have a relationship with my brother, and this whole thing is very stressful and hurtful. I asked her to make him find his own place, but she refused. She says she knows it will be different this time. Just when she needs me the most, being elderly and frail, she brings my brother into her house. If I cut off the money, it will be bad. She runs up her credit card and makes really bad financial decisions. I feel very trapped. Btw I do have durable power of attorney, but not sure how that helps in this situation. I am going to write to my brother at his sobriety program and tell him I think it's a very bad idea for him to live with mom. Also, getting control of the credit cards is a good idea. Taking care of them *both* will likely kill me :/ but I see the logic. Also, I am going to consult an attorney re. using my POA to put her house/belongings into a living trust, with me as the trustee. That way I have more control over the situation.

I have no friends and I always get into fights with my family members. My mom and dad hates me. Last week my dad smashed my iphone for playing too long on it. All the home invasion scenes that I cause and I get bullied at school a lot screw it. My parents recently kicked me out of the house recently and now I m officially homeless. **** my turdy *** life, I can t get any ideas from nobody. Fyi: my grades are trash and can t get a damn job, and I m already 16, haven t made a cent yet in this cruel world. My parents still buy stuff for me. Someone give advice to help me improve

Ex: Adults calling a 7 year old child a slut because she was molested. I was in foster care, & the foster mom's daughter used to call her step daughter a slut for being molested, when it wasn't the girl's fault. Also, another example is society blaming a child because his parents were negligent drug addicts.

Hello! I'm a freshman in High School and lately I just can't be as happy as I used to be. The main issue as to why is probably because of my parents.They beat me (a lot, I even have bruises). Not physical abuse, but mental and emotional as well. I used to think it was okay and normal, and that every family and child had to go through this. But when I got into middle school, I realized that this wasn't the case. My dad and my mom chase me around with knives and steel bats and corner me. They get mad at me for not speaking loudly enough, or not getting A+ in all my classes. I'm so fed up of them screaming at me. I feel like I'll go into depression, and I DON'T WANT THAT. I can't call the police or tell someone because my dad said that if I do, he'll kill me before the police arrive. He keeps on threatening to kill me and stuff. He also beats my brother, but i'm helpless and can't do anything. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and they give me a lot of things, cook for me, take me to school, all that, but they don't love me. And they keep on body shaming me for being 125 lbs as a freshman. They call me a fat *** when I pass by them. Almost every night now, I cry to sleep because I just can't take it. I've told a few of my close friends and they understand and tell me to talk to someone, but I can't!

I can't seem to have the heart to tell my mother i don't want kids. She's always excited when she see's baby clothes and because i'm young she's always like "don't get pregnant young but if it were to happen i'd be excited" How do i tell her? I'm an only child. Am i being selfish?

My brother & I (both teens going into high school this school year) have been homeschooled by our stay at home mom for 7 years now. Only thing is, I think she's kind of failing as a teacher. I'm not sure this is working for me or even if I'm learning anything. She's a pretty toxic person but I do love her with all my heart. She doesn't have any friends, or even any acquaintances (of course, neither do I, which is why I'm thinking about going to public school) and she is out of work, so if I did leave to go to public school, what would she do for 8+ hours everyday when I was busy studying?? She doesn't have any hobbies, and she's in her mid 50's which is kind of late to start a career.. I'm worried about her, I think public school might be the right option for me, but what would become of her? Srry for the long read & thank you to each and every answer

We were all having a family gathering for dinner and he said he will bake a cake and I said "no need, I will buy a ready made one from the Supermarket" and he told me it is no trouble, so I said OK he made the cake but I also brought one from Costco, when he arrived at my house I served the cake I brought and he said "I made this one" I said we will have it after dinner, after dinner everyone was too full and didn't want it, I told him to leave it with me and I will eat it and even bring it into work, I put it in the fridge but forgot about it and it went into the garbage as I thought it was out of date. Is it my fault I am so busy? I told him not to bother.

My mother in law June who I really like told me she wanted to start dating again and hopefully get married again. She ask me what I thought of her chances of finding a man that would marry her. She said she had not dated in over 20 years and she wanted me to tell her what dating was like now. She wanted to know what guys would want from her. I told her with her great beauty and great figure guys now would want the same thing as they wanted when she was a teenager. She said when she was a teenager, all the guys wanted to get into her pants. I told her that has not changed and probably never will. She ask if guys ever out grow that. I told her only when they are in a casket. Older guys with more experience, was what I told her true?