Teenage years are hard for any parent. With high emotions, changing bodies, and hormones, some teens become troubled and begin to fall into bad patterns and exhibit unhealthy behaviors. Parents are often at a loss as what to do with their teen and may look to boot camps for troubled teens for behavior modification. However, not all boot camps for teens are the same. Those that focus on authoritarian discipline simply don’t bring about positive change. Let’s explore what authoritarian discipline is and why it doesn’t work.

What is Authoritarian Discipline?

Authoritarian discipline is defined as a style that has high demands but little feedback. Expectations for proper behavior are extreme, and mistakes are punished with severity. When there is feedback, it’s typically negative. There may be lots of yelling or corporal punishment. When exploring boot camps for troubled teens, there are lots of questions you should ask about discipline.

Authoritarian discipline is all about control. Misbehavior is punished and the correct behavior is not punished. Authoritarian discipline does not place an emphasis on rewarding positive behavior. At a boot camp for youth, the rules are harsh and often have little explanation behind them.

Authoritarian discipline lacks nurturing care and compassion. Additionally, boot camps for teens often eliminate any opportunity for a teen to make normal, daily decisions. This removes a valuable learning opportunity for your child. Boot camps also foster an environment of mistrust. These aspects of boot camps hinder real change in teens. In order to see a lasting change in your teen’s behavior, they need to dig deeper within themselves to understand why their behavior is troubling in the first place. They then need the proper education and tools for understanding and coping with the root causes of their negative behavior.

Are There Any Youth Boot Camps That Are Effective?

Help Your Teen Now does not recommend youth boot camps for effective behavior modification. We help parents to find programs that can help their teen based on their unique emotional state, behavior issues, and the family’s financial abilities. Therapy based programs are better suited to help families with troubled teens correct risky behavior through constructive learning, therapy, and positive reinforcement. Boot camps focus primarily on physical activity and forced discipline. A therapeutic boarding school or a residential treatment center combine the benefits of a structured schedule, clear boundaries, a trust-building environment, education and therapy to help create lasting change in a teens behavior.

Benefits of In-Patient Therapeutic Intervention For Troubled Teens

The first step to helping your troubled teen is removing them from them normal environment. Friends, family members, activities, hobbies, and other aspects of their everyday life contain triggers for bad behavior. An outpatient program can be helpful, but a more immersive therapeutic environment, free of triggers and normal stressors is often what a teen needs to recognize their behavioral patterns and practice what they’re learning in therapy.

Therapeutic boarding schools and residential treatment centers are very structured. Teens have regular activities, recreational time, academic responsibilities, work, and downtime. They are regularly interacting with peers that are in a similar situation, participating in group or individual therapy, and working as a whole to understand themselves and how to better get along with others.

Boots camps and authoritarian discipline do little to affect real change in a teen’s behavior. Real solutions can be reached with immersive therapeutic intervention. Contact us today to get the help your teen needs.