well we were just discussing this the other day, bc of the writing assignment xsteen had for english. do we make our own destiny? i think we do. yes, your son was dealt a bad hand (was this your husband's son by a prior marriage?) in the situation of losing his mother and sister and feeling survivor's guilt, but we ARE responsible for ourselves and at some point, that point has to be driven home. you can be miserable and act out and claim that it is because of some horrible thing that happened to you, or you can take charge of yourself and your own life and realize your life IS what you make of it, and you really have no one but yourslf to blame at the end of the day. has he had any counseling?
He does have a good heart, and is trying but is impulsive, depressed and pig headed and proud. Bad combination.
I hate to disagree, but thats a tough one to get into school age children.