Annie (AKA Hey Terra!) has been around long enough to have experienced a lot of what Life can dish out. But, it hasn’t been so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be your age. Check out some of the thousands of email questions teens from around the world have sent to Terra. You may learn something useful from her answers:
Parents:
“My mom is starting to hit me.”
Hey Terra,
I need you to tell me what should I do about my problem with my mom. She's always yelling at me and calling me bad names like "Little slut" and "Stupid." And she's starting to hit me. It really hurts me because she left me for her boyfriend for 3 months and now she's back! I LOVE MY MOM but she calls me names and hits me for no reason and also she says she's going to lock me up until I'm 18. I'm really scared of her. What can I do?Freakin' Out
Dear Freakin' Out,
I'm so sorry to hear that this is going on in your family. It's not good that your mom loses control like that. You don't deserve to be treated this way. Please know that it's your mom who has the problem with anger management. You have done nothing that makes it alright for her to hit you and insult you.
I want to help you. You say that your mom "left" you for 3 months to live with her boyfriend. Hopefully the person you stayed with during that time is someone you can trust now to talk about what's going on. I strongly suggest that you reach out to that person or to the school counselor, a cool teacher, coach, or the parent of a close friend. You need an adult's help in this situation so that you can be safe.
Please reach out to someone you trust.
I wish you well. Write back whenever you need to.
In friendship,
Terra
Need some advice? Write to Terra.
She'll give you a straight answer you can trust without any lectures.
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