How Parents Can Manage Teenage Rebellion
While the “terrible twos” test the nerves of even the most experienced parents, few developmental stages prove as complex as the teen years. Teen rebellion can feel heartbreaking and challenging for any family. This is a pivotal time in your child’s life when they are trying to find their place in the world.
It is also a time when they can stumble into risky behaviors without realizing they are in new terrain. Thankfully, there are healthy and productive ways to manage teenage rebellion so everyone comes out better on the other side.
Keep Calm and Maintain Self-Control
Keeping calm is crucial to navigating many of the tests of teen parenting. But maintaining self-control is not always easy when they challenge your authority and test your nerves. Just remember that if you appear to lose control and start acting out, such as by yelling at them, your teen will start to wonder whether you are even able to live according to the standards you present for them to live by. You should know how to control anger and emotions when handling this kind of situation.
This sets the family up for communication hurdles and leads to other negative behaviors. To an angry and rebellious teen, a parent’s lost control feels more like a victory.
To stay calm, walk away from negative interactions when you must. Take a moment to yourself and breathe deeply. Allow yourself time to reapproach the situation with a more positive mindset.
You can even inform your rebellious teen that you are stepping away to give each of you time to reflect before reopening the discussion. In fact, such self-control is important in trying to manage teenage rebellion and mutual respect in your relationship.
Set Fair Rules
Although your teen is on a journey of self-discovery that shapes who they will be as an adult, they are not yet in adulthood. This makes it important that you maintain your authority as the parent. You must set clear boundaries to guide their behavior.
You can manage teenage rebellion through firm rules for your home and their behavior. Although many parents fear that rules equal more rebellion, the opposite is true. Reasonable boundaries are actually comforting, particularly when they are well-defined.
Establish Consequences
As adults, we know that if we break a particular law, there is a well-defined legal consequence to our actions. This leads most of society to respect the law and behave accordingly. To manage teenage rebellion, be this black-and-white with consequences for broken rules.
You can even ask your teen to help you establish consequences for rules. Then, when they break a rule, there is no debating back-and-forth about whether the punishment fits the so-called crime. They cannot argue that you are being unreasonable in the moment when you both feel heated. Instead, this clear delineation of consequences clarifies your boundaries and outcomes if those boundaries are not respected.
Provide Positive Reinforcement
Children of all ages thrive from positive reinforcement. Even when you must work to manage teenage rebellion, your child still craves your praise and love. Recognize your young person’s good behavior and achievements daily, even when these accomplishments are small.
Positive attention like this helps your teen avoid impulsive negative attention-seeking when they feel left out or unnoticed. Positive reinforcement also helps build their self-esteem and reduces their desire to act out.
Turn to Counseling to Manage Teenage Rebellion
When it feels like you and your teen are struggling to manage teenage rebellion, Reframe Counseling of NC can help. We provide an array of therapies and teen counseling sessions to help families get through these difficult teenage years.
Reframe Counseling also offers treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, anger, substance abuse and family crisis. We can help both you and your child feel heard for a better relationship with your teen. Schedule your family therapy, parenting counseling or counseling for teens today by calling (984) 225-2777.
