Raising Cain

Raising kids up to be decent people is hard work. Especially when you're doing it on your own. Even harder is a single mom raising a boy up in a house full of females. Oh, sure, he has his "Dad" (and I use the term loosely) on the occasional weekend. I think it's important for kids, but most especially boys, to have a good male role model. I'm not a man, I can't teach him how to be a man. A GOOD man, at that. I can give him the basics, but it's just not the same. I also don't have a good male role model for them. Not one who is around on a regular basis anyway. My Dad and my brothers are all too far away to be of any help. It's sort of down to me against everybody else right now. Me against them, me against the less than stellar school system. Trying to be everything to everybody can wear you down. Things with the boy aren't going so hot right now. He's 10. Age is a huge factor in this. But, so is the kind of people he is subjected to at school. And not having anyone but me to teach him how to act. I've raised them well. They know right from wrong, they have great manners, they're smart. I've done everything I know to do. It just isn't enough anymore. The boy is getting smart with me. He's getting in trouble at school, something he's never done before. His attitude is getting out of hand and everything I've been doing to get it back in hand isn't enough. So... what to do? Put him in counseling? Therapy? I don't know anymore. It's sad that something that could be so easily remedied with the right tools becomes such a battle without them. I'm relatively sure that it will all work out in the end; but, as I am responsible for their present and future in a way, I don't want to screw it up. Anybody has any suggestion, I'm all ears.