Reply To: Going off the Derech

gavra at work- Because of the way my son is going about it, it’s not easy to do, to fully support my son’s quest to find himself. He’s finding himself by attaching himself to a bunch of kids who have been in the street for up to 6 years! And the group is growing in number. None of those kids ‘found themselves’ yet, why should my son be different? My husband and I are not in agreement as to what to do. I would be willing (sort of) to let it go, and hope and pray he finds himself, but my husband feels we will lose him completely, and prefers a stronger approach.

I cannot ‘reach’ my son right now, since he is so defiant. I have to wait for him to calm down. The other problem is that my husband and I are dealing with this completely differently. I am terribly sad, and my husband is terribly angry. We are speaking with a new counselor who is helping my husband to deal with this (and me too), but I pray that my son doesn’t fall further away.

zahavasdad-there are half-day yeshivas with work programs, but my son only wants to go if the chevra goes too. My husband will not even consider this