Parenting an Out of Control Teen

We've all seen kids or teens most people thought were out of control regarding behavior. Our compassion goes out to those households who are living in what appears to be chaos.
 
The concern becomes more personal – much so – if it's your child who is heading down the path of an out of control teen.
 
What do you do to move from anxious to action? Start out with a simple in home analysis to give yourself some realistic evidence to evaluate.
 
- Use a behavior record of some kind for you to record all actions; both positive and negative. This will give you a balanced look at the situation.
 
- Keep track of days, times and duration of behavior events and any triggers you notice. Triggers are essential!
 
- Make note of your own gut reactions to your child's behavior. What you may determine is that you certainly do have a defiant child and an out of control father or mother to go with them. Don't give yourself a hard time, just observe.
 
- Disrespectful teenagers are excellent at forcing issues and pushing buttons. Use the habits log to identify your household and personal buttons.
 
- Defiant children need structure and firm boundaries. To successfully set up this kind of family system, you will have to get your emotions off the table so you can pick and choose your responses properly, stand firm and also listen plenty to your child so that he really believes you actually care. If you feel unable to get the job done in any these parenting areas, please seek help yourself.
 
A chaotic home is never a good plan. Start today establishing a firm picture of what life in your household actually looks like and apply that information to map out your next parenting move.