Raising a Rebellious Teenager

You saw all of the signs when your teenager was a young toddler. Rebellion set in at an early age and it never quite went away. You were ready for anything from the time this kid started to school. From the bubble gum in little Suzy’s hair to the frog in the teacher’s desk, when parents were telling tales of students in the classroom misbehaving, you knew they were discussing your child. You never had to ask.

Then, your child hit the middle school and commonly you were called to the school to watch as the principal disciplined your child with a paddling. Your child would apologize later for embarrassing you but embarrassment was never on your mind, instead it was the love affair with the paddle. Each time you went to the school you envisioned the paddle and how much you would love to have the pleasure of spanking your child at that moment for taking your lunch hour.

Still, you realized early on that teenage years would be the downfall of your life and you were right. You child went from eighth grade straight into detention on the first day of school. Rebellion began to escalate and you didn’t know what to do until he was caught on the school’s property with marijuana and suddenly it hit you like a ton of bricks. “Mrs. Smith, I said we have your son in custody and need you to come down and pick him up.” The words rang long and hard but you weren’t quite sure you heard correctly until the officer on the other end of the phone repeated herself again. Then, it became clear what you should do. Absolutely nothing.

The officer drilled you again and asked you to come down and pick him up and you stumbled out your words and then regrouped long enough to tell them to keep him all weekend. Revenge? No, well, perhaps but best of all it became the one weekend in hundreds which you wouldn’t worry about where your son was or what he was doing. You would let the system that everyone gripes about deal with him. After all, it’s the system which failed to keep the drug pushers behind bars. The system which put the pushers back on the streets and it’s the system which failed to work for everyone else.

You leave your teenager in jail and cry all weekend and then you see something on television which talks about how teens turn on their parents who do the very same thing so you rush over to the county jail to get him out. He is devastated, hasn’t eaten and smells like a jail so you take him home and insist he take an immediate shower. When he gets out of the shower, his bags are packed.

You take him to rehab.

Some parents would think this is extreme but guess what, this is the only way to stop the drug madness which is all around us and if every parent in the world would enforce the discipline they want their children to own, the whole world would have a lesser problem with drugs. So, what’s it going to be? When you get the call your teen is in jail, will you go after them immediately? If so, then what?

Be a good parent. Keep them in jail at least overnight and then, whisk them away to rehab if only for a few days and when they get out and do it again? Then start the process all over again until they learn that you are in control of their life and they will abide by your rules.

Raising a rebellious teen is a problem but it doesn’t have to be continually. Stop it before it becomes a vicious circle. Stop it before the vicious circle of the judicial system eventually has your son in a cycle which never ends. Be a good parent and let your child spend the night in jail. Be a good parent. Send them to rehab. Be an excellent parent and refuse to ever let your child’s rebellious nature ruin the only life they will ever have.

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