Teen Parenting Help - Teen Punishment & Responsibility

 

Raising a respectful, diligent and responsible teen is a very difficult thing to do. It often requires some careful thinking and planning when it comes to the part of parenting nobody likes, responsibility and punishment.

When your teen does something wrong, you need to step back and take a look at the situation yourself and in an unbiased manner. You need to establish why your teen acted in the way they did and what were the consequences of their actions. After you have established the answer to both of these questions you can then determine the severity of the situation and an appropriate punishment.

When it comes to punishment the first thing you should do is talk to your teen. Find out how they feel about what they have done. Keep in mind that often teens will face punishment from other sources not just you. If your teen is already facing punishment from other sources then a full punishment form you may not be necessary.

If you do decide that a punishment is in order the best way to get full effect is to sit down with your teen with a list of privileges (curfew, car, computer, allowance). Go through this list with your teen indicating the new restrictions in each category. Make sure to explain to your teen why you are taking away or altering each privilege and how this is going to effect them.

As for a time frame for most first time offences (screw ups that your teen has never done before) 1 week (including weekend) is often enough. Most terms over that are simply overkill. Your teen does not learn any lesson over the period of time you have to remember. Any lesson involved in the punishment is usually learned within the first day of punishment.

For repeat and very serious cases, a longer punishment term of 1 month may be in order. Giving a low sentence length for first offences should be backed up by very stiff and tough multiple offense lengths. This is what will stop teens form repeating their action.

Keep in mind that for a punishment to be truly successful you should transform the thought pattern of you teen. This is what makes your teen a better person and when your teen becomes a better person your have become a better parent.