How Do You Control a Rebellious Teenager?

Parenting can be difficult enough with your average teen who is learning to become a responsible young adult. But for parents of rebellious and out-of-control teens, protecting your teen from harmful things is that much more difficult. Most parents who have contacted our residential treatment center for teen boys have expressed their frustration with their inability to control their rebellious teens. In many cases, we offer the following advice to help parents before they decide whether to take the next step and send their teen to our residential treatment center for help.

Determine What Battles Are Worth Having With Your Teen

It can be tough to let some things go when you are trying to get an unruly teen under control, but not all battles are worth having. Clashing with your teen over everything ranging from undone laundry to more serious issues like substance abuse can be incredibly draining on your personal energy levels. And the more drained you become, the less reasonable you are likely to be when it comes to your teen’s misbehavior. Also, if your teen struggles with something like oppositional defiance disorder, constant fights over any kind of misbehavior are likely to exacerbate the issue. So, decide what battles are worth having with your teen and focus on those problems. Often, when major issues are addressed, smaller problems like messy rooms can be more easily resolved.

Troubled Teens Can Thrive With Greater Structure

Choosing your battles doesn’t mean throwing out all structure for your teen. Many troubled teens can thrive with greater structure. Things like having a regular curfew, bedtime, and wake up times can help create good biological balance. Even just improving your teen’s sleep schedule can make a significant impact on their behavior, as their growing bodies and taxing social learning require at least 8 hours of sleep a night to properly process the day’s events. Depending on what areas where your teen is struggling, you can build up a more structured schedule to better support them toward success.

Behavior Modification Assists In Changing Rebellious Teens

For those truly out-of-control teens, attending a behavior modification program may be needed to make lifelong changes. In a behavior modification program, the root triggers for a teen’s rebelliousness are addressed, rather than just addressing the symptoms. Along with addressing issues that are holding back your teen from leading a better life, behavior modification programs like the one at our residential treatment center help provide better alternatives to acting out. For many out-of-control teens, they had no appropriate way to express their inner feelings. We work with them to provide safe and healthy ways to release their internal struggles, teaching them reliable methods to use in the future.

Never Just Accept Poor Behavior

It can be tempting to brush off a rebellious teen’s behavior as “just being a teen.” But if issues are not addressed while your teen is still young, they may struggle well into adulthood. Often, as out-of-control behavior impacts a teen’s ability to earn good grades, hold a job, and live peacefully with others, the stemming issues can affect your teen’s future happiness and success. If your teen hasn’t responded to your efforts and your local resources haven’t been enough to help, Liahona Treatment Center is here for your family. We have helped countless troubled teen boys overcome a wide variety of struggles, and we are ready to help your teenage son get his life back on track. Contact us today and learn more about our program to see if it is a good fit for your son.