Dear Valued Users,
It's with a heavy heart that we announce the permanent closure of StepTalk.org on August 31st, 2025.
This decision wasn't an easy one. For over twenty years, StepTalk has been a source of support for stepparents around the world! However, over the years, the costs associated with maintaining and upgrading the site to remain secure, meet current standards and maintain availability have become unsustainable.
We are incredibly grateful for your support, contributions and the community you've helped us build. Your engagement has made StepTalk.org a special place and we cherish the memories and connections made here.
We would especially like to thank Aniki for volunteering to be a moderator and for caring so much.
Thank you for being a part of our journey and we wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Dawn and The StepTalk Team
Crying, yelling and temper
Crying, yelling and temper tantrums, as listed by you, should stop by age 6 or so, after the child starts school typically. If a pre-teen is yelling and has temper tantrums, it is usually poor parenting to blame. There is no mental health condition that makes a child behave like this. Autism is different, but that is usually much more obvious. If you could tell us exactly what the problems are, that would help us advise you.
Or temper tantrums are due to
Or temper tantrums are due to some previous trauma that the kid can't work through. That trauma may stem from poor parenting, but that doesn't make it any less real or needed to be dealt with. Even if you end the trauma, the kid still has to be taught how to handle their emotions.
Bad parenting can lead to poor mental health. Fixing the bad parenting won't undo the damage done to the child's mental health. That's why this gets so tricky and why kids stay damaged even if a parent changes their ways.
Please explain what is going
Please explain what is going on with child.
See my other post I just did this morning
See other post
Kids this age with legitimate
Kids this age with legitimate issues are far from the norm and at most are a comparatively rare exception.
Problems are not resolved by artificially forcing a kid into a crisis category that is not legitimate in that kid's case.
My bios are 15 and 17 boys.
My bios are 15 and 17 boys. Neither of them has had a screaming crying tantrum since 5 or 6. My oldest has a temper and was a pencil snapper. Those days are few and far between as he knows he is full grown man sized. Both boys follow our lead and go to their rooms to simmer down, then come talk to one of us.
SD23 was the tantrum queen. Self injury. Suicidal ideation. Stealing. Lying. Full blown fits with items thrown. She was diagnosed bipolar at 18.
Your boys have quality
Your boys have quality parents. They won the parent lottery.
Excuse and esteem based
Excuse and esteem based parenting fails children. Standards based parenting builds confident kids who are high performers with the best chance of becoming viable adults.
The best thing to do is to
The best thing to do is to seek a consultation with the PCP or with a therapist. They can give you an idea of what is what.