The amount of time and energy required to console a troubled teen may seem insurmountable. Every parent deals with an occasional act of rebellion, but when your teen seems to be moving from an occasional rebellious outburst toward what appears to be a rebellious way of life, you may find yourself at your wit’s end. Although dealing with teen rebellion is difficult, there are real reasons for sticking with your attempts to support your troubled teen.

Be an Influence

As a parent, you have more influence over your teen than anyone else in their lives. Although it may seem like you have no control over your teen, the reality is that you have more likelihood of helping your child make a positive life change than anyone else around them.

Keep Open Arms

Teens act out because they are in pain. Although it may feel like your teen is rebelling because they hate you, it is more likely that your teen feels bad about themselves. Helping your teen identify the issue and find a solution, will help them end their pain and begin to heal. Remember how difficult it is for you to make good decisions when you find yourself in a bad place. Making hard decisions when they are struggling is much more difficult for a teen than it is for adults. Keep in mind the difficulty your teen is facing, and do your best to remain warm and open to your troubled teen.

Teen Development

The actions your teen takes at this point in their life can have long term effects on the choices they get to make in the future. Although your teen doesn’t have the ability to understand the long term implications of their actions, you need to remember that a teen’s brain doesn’t fully develop until around the age of 25, and they have not fully developed the ability to understand the long term implications of choices and actions. You are better able to understand how your teen’s rebellious actions and poorly thought out choices can have on their future.

Get Help Sooner

The sooner your teen gets help, the sooner they can begin to feel better and the sooner your family can begin to rebuild a healthy happy life together.

Show Commitment to Your Teen

Maintaining a connection with your troubled teen allows you to model appropriate coping behavior. Simply showing your teen that you are committed to helping them teaches them the value of commitment. Modeling consistent care and continued effort will teach your teen to continue to try when they face problems in their lives. Whether you know it or not, how you handle your teen’s difficulty teaches them how adults deal with problems.

Reassure Your Teen’s Value

Your teen looks to you for an indication of their value. Your willingness to stand beside your teen when times are difficult reassures them of their value. If you quit on your teen, you are indicating that they aren’t worth the effort it takes to solve the problem.

Remember you and your teen don’t have to take this journey alone. While we encourage parents to not give up on their teen, there are times when a troubled teen has difficulty improving even after the assistance of counselors, therapists, and more. However, there are therapeutic boarding schools that can help your son or daughter overcome symptoms such as defiance, depression, acting out, and more.