Helping Children With Curfew

"Dear Mark: My daughter is asking to extend her curfew. It seems she can fight whatever. Would you please help me and let me have a strategy to have the curfew settle down. Thanks & Best Regards! F."

Click here for my response...

Popular posts from this blog

Would you suggest any further contact?

Here's an email from a mother whose 17-year-old son is "on the run." He has a drug habit, and is basically floating from one living arrangement to another. This mother sent her son a letter inviting him to Christmas Eve dinner: ________ Hi Mark, Sent letter to my son. He would have received it on Friday. In it I also expressed your advise. I have also invited him to join all our family for Christmas Eve dinner. It is Monday. Would you suggest any further contact? If yes when? Or do you think I should wait until he contacts us? Christmas Eve is in 6 days. It's frustrating when we don't have the answers ourselves anymore. What do you suggest? ________ Hi M., The main goal is for (a) your son to start taking responsibility for himself, and (b) for you to take less responsibility in order to achieve (a). Whenever you are undecided about what to say or do, ask yourself the question, "Is what I"m about to say or do going to promote the development of self-rel...
Read more

From Chaos to Calm: A Parent’s Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Out-of-Control Teens

Image
Alternative Disciplinary Strategies for Parents of Strong-Willed, Defiant Teenagers When Parenting Feels Impossible: A Story Too Familiar It’s 9:30 on a Tuesday night. You’ve just finished a long day at work. The dishes are stacked in the sink, laundry is waiting, and all you want is a few minutes of peace before bed. But instead, you’re standing in the hallway, arguing with your fifteen-year-old about why he can’t stay up gaming until 2 a.m. again. Your voice gets louder, his eyes roll harder, and suddenly you’re in a shouting match you never intended to have. Doors slam. You feel angry, guilty, and exhausted. And the question haunts you: How did my sweet child turn into this defiant, impossible teenager? If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Thousands of parents visit my program every year because they’ve hit this exact wall. They’ve tried punishment, grounding, yelling, even bargaining — and nothing seems to work. Many confess they feel like they’ve lost control of their ho...
Read more

How To Ground Your Child

Image
As most parents know, grounding is a technique effective with school-age children and teenagers and involves restricting the child to a certain place, usually home or his room, as punishment. But, unfortunately, most parents do not know the proper way to use grounding, and instead, ground too long – or not long enough. The result: grounding totally loses its effectiveness, and the parent complains, “I’ve tried everything with this child –and nothing works!” How To Ground Your Child - 20 Tips for Parents: 1. Age appropriate groundings are a vital consideration. Little kids who are put in 'time out' are in effect being grounded. At this age, time outs and groundings need to be timed in minutes. The rule of thumb for time outs, groundings or withholding of privileges should be commensurate with age, but only up to a certain point. Kids under about six years of age should be given incremental time outs in minutes. Time outs should last no more than about one to two m...
Read more