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My $14,600 Problem, and unexpected $34.99 Solution 

The Night Our Front Door Shattered Was the Moment I Realized I Was Losing My Son

Michelle Mason

Trust me, what I am about to say will save your family, and your money. 

 

When I first saw the shattered glass, my heart sank.

 

Not because of the cost.
Not because of the mess.

 

But because it felt like a physical reflection of what was happening inside our family.

 

There is a difference between “normal teenage behaviour” like slamming doors and arguments every so often, and constant and EXPENSIVE property damage and sleepless nights wondering where I went wrong as a mother. 

...Classic mom guilt right?

 

This isn’t rare, it’s everywhere around us.

 

If you have ever talked to a parent, I bet you have heard these phrases more than once:

  • “My child shuts down when I try to talk.”
  • “Every conversation turns into an argument.”
  • “I feel like I’m walking on eggshells in my own home.”

The comforting thing is that research in developmental psychology proves that chronic family conflict present during adolescence is strongly linked to:

  • Increased anxiety and depression developed later in life
  • Extreme difficulty forming healthy adult relationships (both romantic and platonic)
  • Severely stunted emotional regulation and conflict resolution skills 
  • Physical impacts from increased stress levels 
  • Difficulties with handling financial matters 

In simple terms, unresolved family issues don't just disappear over time, it compounds stronger. 

 

I’ve tried every possible solution before finding the perfect one

Like most struggling families, we gave family counselling a go. The $14,600 I spent on our consistent family counselling sessions would have been better spent gambling in a casino… Don’t get me wrong, it helped us identify our issues but never did we find the solution I was desperately searching for. 

 

The Hard Truth?

Traditional solutions assume that:

  • Talking more = better communication
  • Explaining yourself clearly = being understood
  • Addressing the problem directly = progress

But for teenagers, that's often the opposite of what works. If you know you know.

 

What our councillor told me that made everything finally click:

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding here. You don’t truly understand each other’s inner worlds, and until that changes, communication will always break down.”

 

We weren’t lacking effort, we were lacking understanding. So I did what every mother would do, online shopping! 

 

Weirdly enough, it only took me a few different Google searches to find a product that grabbed my attention from it's benefit-driven purpose. I'll add a pic below of what it looked like when I bought it. 

 

It's called 'tell me your life story mom' from Keeplora Keepsakes. 

Title
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Buy today and SAVE
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If you're still with me, I want you to know that you're not a bad parent. You're not failing. 

 

At first, I'll admit—I was skeptical. A journal? Really? After thousands in therapy, this was supposed to fix things?

But something about it made sense in a way nothing else had.

 

It gave us an opportunity for him to get to know ME—the person I was before I became "Mom." The dreams I had at his age. The mistakes I made. The fears I carried. The moments that shaped who I became.

 

The Moment...

I left the book on the kitchen counter with a note: "No pressure. Just thought you might want to know who I was before I was your mom."

 

Three days later, I found it on my bed with two pages filled out.

 

Not perfectly. His handwriting was messy, and some answers were jokes. But he'd read the prompts. He'd thought about them. And for the first time in months, he'd asked me a question that wasn't about dinner or money:

 

"Did you really run away from home when you were 16?"

 

We talked for two hours that night. Not about his grades. Not about his attitude. About us. About the parts of ourselves we'd never shared.

 

I somehow even shared the most sentimental story I never thought I'd have the opportunity to share, I spoke about my beautiful brother which even had a little surprise for my son at end end. Read it for yourself: 

Title
Title

The book has over 200 prompts. Questions I never would have thought to ask. Questions that unlocked stories I'd forgotten I had.

  • "What's your earliest childhood memory?"
  • "What do you wish you'd known at my age?"
  • "What's your biggest regret?"
  • "When did you feel most proud of yourself?"

Each question became a conversation. Each conversation became understanding.
 

The fighting didn't stop overnight. But something shifted.

 

He stopped seeing me as the enemy and started seeing me as a person—someone who'd also been confused, scared, and trying to figure it out.

 

And I stopped seeing him as a problem to fix and started seeing him as someone trying to understand a world that doesn't make sense yet.

 

Six months later, our house feels different.

 

Not perfect. We still argue. But the arguments don't escalate the way they used to. There's less yelling. More listening. And when things get tense, one of us will sometimes say, "Should we do another page?"

 

The broken glass got replaced. But more importantly, something else got repaired.

 

Please check out these books for yourself, they're upto 40% right now... if that isn't a sign then I don't know what is. 

 

Give it a shot. What's the worst that happens? You're out $35 and you know it wasn't for you.

 

But what if it works?

 

What if six months from now, your house feels different? What if you actually understand each other? ...now that's worth $35.

 

Click here if you're ready to build relationships