It's been going on for a few months now and honestly I'm not really sure how to handle it. He says he'd rather stay with me and his friends, but his dad is starting to feel hurt. I don't want to force him either, so I'd like to know how to bring it up with my son to understand what's really going on.
At 14, it's often a time when friends become super important, so it might just be that without anything serious behind it. The thing is to have a really open conversation with him without putting him on the defensive - not "why won't you go to your dad's" but rather listen to what he says about his weekends, what he'd like to do, if there's something that makes him uncomfortable there. Sometimes at that age teenagers just find it's not cool enough or there are little things that irritate them that you can't see from the outside.
Once you understand better, you can also talk about it with his dad to try to find a compromise - maybe fewer fixed weekends, or stuff he'd really like to do at his place. The idea is that your son feels like he's being listened to and not forced, otherwise it'll just make him more resistant.
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