Today, I am feeling overwhelmed with frustration and complete anger and annoyance!!! I fell in love over the weekend...with a boy who is fourteen years old and he is just so, well, I want to keep him. Literally. I have known him for five years and he is absolutely a fantastic kid. If I ever had a kid, he is what I want. He's so smart and funny and everything!!! BUT, there's this problem: He is my sister-in-law's step-nephew. He is visiting his grandma and grandpa, who both treat him like crap. My brother and his wife treat him like crap. He spent thursday and friday night with me and we went to my niece's b-day party yesterday. As soon as I took him back to my brother's, he's being yelled at and embarrassed and treated like he's done something wrong. He wasn't even able to defend himself. They wouldn't let him speak. I can't really do anything because they are his grandparents, but my brother was doing it too. When I said something to my brother about it, I got "Well, you just don't know. You don't have kids, so you don't understand."
He was sitting at the table with his grandmother last night and she told him that they were going to church early today. He asked why and she jumped all over him. Made him go sit by himself and think about his attitude. WTF??? This kid does nothing wrong. He just needs someone to listen to him. He comes from a severly broken home--his mom is an alcoholic and on drugs, his dad is long gone and his stepdad (my sister-in-law's brother) doesn't want to have anything to do with him. When he visits, everyone yells at him constantly and everything is his fault. I truly love this kid and would take him away from everyone if I had the means. However, right now, that can't happen. It SUCKS because there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. He is going back home (to Ohio) Saturday and I cry just thinking about it. Facebook is all we have to communicate. Oh, I just don't know what to do. This is so frustrating...