Riley

This is for those of you that are of the mistaken impression that our son Riley is a completely healthy 7 1/2 year old boy. He's handsome, plays sports, has friends, loves to hug everyone and is generally polite. But even after living with us for almost three years, he still has issues with stealing and hoarding. The true issue is not really about either one. It really comes down to the fact that his little mind still doesn't think that we'll provide and take care of him so he tries to do it on his own. I took this picture this morning to show what I typically find every few weeks when I look between his bed and the wall. A majority of the trash is snack wrappers. I used to confront him with the trash but that didn't do either one of us any good. Now I just find it without him knowing so that I continue to know where his "secret" hiding place is. We're working on letting us know when he wants a snack and eating it in the kitchen at snack time. Thankfully, two of the other big issues we were concerned about with Riley seem to no longer be big issues; lying and innapropriate sexual behavior. We've worked really hard to develop a trust with Riley so he doesn't feel so threatened and defensive when questioned. He's a smart kid so when we take the time to talk things out with him, he usually figures things out. He has pretty low impulse contol so we also roll-play a lot to give him lots of practice at what's appropriate. He wants so badly to be a "normal" kid and to be liked by everyone. It's taken a long time and a lot of hard work but he's so much better in so many areas. We're so thankful for him!