I realized finally after a rude wake up call that I must not depend on the therapist's one hour a week to change anything for my family's preteen. I realized that the emotions vocabulary games we play randomly don't stick and that he must play them daily. Today I am armed with emotional processing tools from Dialectical Behavior Therapy that I must practice in my home. I can not wait for the therapist to respond, I have to process the specific emotion with the right processing tool with him. I thought that episodic responding would work, because my preteen is usually okay. And I realize that being okay or good is the facade of the American preteen. I also realize they love being drawn up in a drama and its not something their friend are doing to them, its the way of being a preteen. I am awake and I plan to act to educate my preteen on emotions, they aren't a one time education or just a drama for your friends entertainment, they are a way of life. I bought a Jinga game and a beach ball to write different emotions down, so that we can play games with the words daily. We are going to play daily, it is a responsibility to our relationship.
