Help For Parents Dealing With Troubled Teens
Pregnancy, Drinking, Drugs Create Challenging Teens
Aug 25, 2008
Dealing with difficult teens is hard enough; not being able to find help only makes a bad situation more stressful. Here are some websites to help you navigate through those troubled teen waters.
Teen Boot Camps
There are many websites that offer resource information for helping struggling teens. There are boot camps for teens who have continued to demonstrate undesirable behavior and cannot be kept in the home. Teen Boot Camps is one online resource that offers information on discipline, structure and reform of troubled teens. Residential boot camps for teens are offered for periods of time from a month two two months or more depending on the program and on the teens’ individual issues.
Pregnant Teens
Finding out your teenager is pregnant can be an emotional time. Decisions will need to be made regarding the options available to teens and their families. Individual programs offer information on keeping the baby, adoption and abortion. One resource offering comprehensive information to parents of teens is Pregnant Teen Help.org. The site also gives additional information for residential centers for pregnant teens.
Drinking and Drug Use
If you are concerned that your teen is drinking or using drugs, you will need to intervene immediately for their safety. Teens Health is a good place to start if you are dealing with a teen who is drinking or doing drugs. Educate yourself about the issues and consider all options for intervention so that you can work toward a positive outcome. There is a very helpful resource brochure at a website called theantidrug.com that can also assist with finding support for teen substance abuse.
Parent-Teen Contracts
A parent-teen contract is a document signed by parents and their teen(s) outlining a set of expectations and consequences. Creating this type of contract helps take some of the emotion out of the issue at hand. It holds teens accountable for their actions and makes it clear up front what behavior is expected. Read more in this article about parent-teen contracts .
Another valuable resource for parenting teenagers is Parenting Teenagers (Dinkmeyer, Sr., Don, et.al. Step Publishers, 1998), a book that is part of a larger system of parenting known as STEP (Systematic Training for Effective Parenting) which started in 1976. Read more about this parenting method book.
This will be a difficult time for you and your teen. Be supportive, be patient, and most of all continue to provide the love for your teen that will be the basis of their recovery.
 |
