
One of the biggest fears of raising a teen is rebellion. You hear all these stories of the horrible things teens do to others and themselves and you hope and pray that you end up being one of the "lucky" ones. Unfortunately, many of the things that you do to prevent the rebellion ends up being the trigger. This leaves many parents confused as to what their doing wrong. Here are some things that you should avoid in order to prevent this rebellion from occurring.
Lack of affection
It doesn't matter how many things you buy for your teen, or how much food is in the fridge to eat, one of the biggest things that many parents neglect is affection. I was one of the many teens who broke out into a wild, crazed rebellion against the lack of affection I was receiving from one of my parents. This is especially true of young girls. This is what leads them to seek affection in the arms of men because they aren't getting it at home.
What you should do is make an effort to spend more time with your teen. Go out and do something fun together. Let them know how proud you are of them for being such a great kid. This automatically ensures more great behavior.
Punishment without reinforcement
Being punished without being showed the right thing to do is absolutely pointless! No discussions or explanation of what the expectations are, which often leads to over-punishment is a very serious issue. If you punish a child for saying a bad word without teaching them that bad words are wrong and having a discussion about it... will that action stop? Hell no! Come on parents, we are all humans and we do silly things when we are upset, which is why it is often wise to wait until your anger has subsided before you decide on an official punishment for your teens behavior.
Over-protection
Ever heard of the stories of preachers kids (I'm one) or catholic school-girls? When a parent is so caught up in protecting their children from the world... they sometimes neglect other areas that they should be concentrating on which leaves their child even more desperate to get a piece of what's out there. The more you try to protect them, the more curious they become. You can't keep them in a cage (not legally), and you can't monitor them 24/7 (without being a psycho). So do your best to warn them of all the dangers that lie out there, and set appropriate boundaries for them. If not then you will surely regret it later.