Dealing With Defiant Teens

Defiant Teens

You know the type. You may see teenagers hanging out in weird places long after dark, and they may shoot your dirty looks if you find yourself looking in their direction. Defiant teens come from every economic background, and they can be anywhere. Though most teens feel the need to rebel a little, there are some that have some serious problems. I know all about this because I was one of them. That doesn’t mean I’m going to put up with their antics however.

Defiant teens might feel like they have something to prove, or are trying escape from something. I know I was part of the latter group, and I did everything to get away from what was going on in my house. If this meant I was out too late and probably hanging out with the wrong people, so be it. At least I wasn’t as home enduring what I had to face each day when I got home from school. You can’t possibly know what is going on with someone, and in most cases, a defiant teen has their reasons for looking at you the way they do.

If you have teenagers, you should not take defiance too much to heart. It is a part of growing up and spreading your wings. Defiant teens might be this way because we are programmed to step away from the protection of our parents in order to cope with the world once we are on our own. Other defiant teens, however, take things to the extreme. No matter how much they may deny it or ignore your attempts to help them, there is a strong message in what they are doing, and that message is usually a cry for help or understanding.

You can help your defiant teens by being there for them and never giving up on them. Pester them until they tell you what is going on. It may be a matter of extreme peer pressure, or it might be something worse. There could be abuse going on that you don’t know about, or they could be being bullied at school. Defiant teens may not know how to say anything or what to do, so they become problems. Even negative attention is attention, and they might respond if you suddenly make them your number one priority. I wish someone had done that for me when I was a teenager. It would have saved me a lot of pain.