When a teenager breaks the rules

When a teenager breaks the rules, they need to think of it as their own decision to also accept the consequences.

Unlike younger children, teenagers can reason, so consequences become the result of their decision to do wrong, not what the parent “does” to punish them.

For instance, coming home after curfew means they are choosing not to be trusted with a later curfew, so the parent’s role is to make that uncomfortable through removing that privilege for a time. If they again break it, then they’ll automatically lose a more significant privilege, like the use of the car.

The sooner they realize that they are bringing upon themselves their own consequences, the sooner they’ll begin making better decisions.

©2010 Mark Gregston



Michelle Muncy

Marketing Planner

ChildSharing, Inc.

805.550.3663