She was released from the Singapore Girls Home, a juvenile prison on the 22nd after 1 months stay...

Dear Mark,

I read with interest your parenting book, we are one of those parents that tried everything including the Beyond Parental Control juvenile help in Singapore.

Our daughter has a history of running away as soon as she does not get her way, the last time for 25 days, with the threat of killing herself and or over dose on drugs.

We finally put her in a very disciplined structured boarding school in Malaysia. It is her 16^th birthday on Saturday, and she needs permission to go out.

As this is a privilege she has not earned, nor the trust, we refused the permission. The threats of running away and killing herself were howling in the phone.

I am going thru your book, as to be ready for her first home leave, 2 weeks from now, and the problems are back, before we can implement anything. As soon as she gets a negative answer or a way to earn a privilege - she runs away, does not care if she has no bed, food, as long as she can decide herself how to spend her time.

She was released from the Singapore Girls Home, a juvenile prison on the 22^nd after 1 months stay. Tears and promises made us decide to take her out of it and into a boarding school.

This is the 5^th school in which we hope she can finish secondary 3. She got expulsed from the others due to bad behavior.

Any advice? If you need more info, we will gladly supply.

Many thanks

Mr. & Mrs. G.

``````````````````````

Mr. & Mrs. G.,

First of all, be sure to watch ALL the Instructional Videos in the online version of the eBook. If you only read the printable version of the eBook, you’ll only get about 40% of the total material.

The advice I have is simple and straightforward:

When she returns home, implement session #1 during the first week …session #2 during the second week …and so on. If she chooses to ignore your house rules, then she will also choose to continue her involvement in the Juvenile Justice system. There’s no way around this.

If you can’t control your daughter – the world WILL control her. Let her decide which controlling entity she wants to answer to. It’s not a question or whether or not she will be controlled, rather it’s a question of who will do the controlling – parents or the law. Again – let her decide which. Then, whatever her decision – let go of the outcome. (Easier said than done – but you have no other choice as I see it.)

Mark

My Out-of-Control Teen

Motivating Your Teenager to Find Employment

"Hi Mark, I am so glad I found your web site, my husband and I have just started reading it and we are putting assignment 1 into place this week. I am actually a stepmother to my husband’s eldest boy (16yrs old) that we have been having terrible trouble with for many years but in the last 2 months things have become quite horrendous. To help you with the overall picture, his two brothers (12yrs & 15yrs) and himself live with us week about, 1 week with his mother and the other week with us and my 11yr daughter lives with us full time.

He is a very bright boy, but school just didn’t interest him and was getting into trouble, didn’t want to go, wouldn’t do any work, unmotivated and incredibly addicted to computer games – exactly what you have outlined in the start of your web site, it explained so much. It’s the old scenario his Dad felt sorry for his kids after the divorce and indulged them way too much, but he did the best he could at the time. He has since left school around 2 months ago, wants to go into the Police Force when he is 21 because in Australia to get into the Police Force you need to finish your Higher School Certificate or have a trade or certificate 3 in some sort of profession.

He is currently working part-time at McDonalds and some weeks only getting 1 shift a week and he feels this is enough and eventually McDonalds will give him a management role which will help get into the Police Force. But he would sit around all day, meet his friends after school and not look for another job. His father has offered him help with his resume, he has offered to take him to different organizations to find work. But he refuses to go. We have taken the internet off him altogether in both houses, because that would encourage him to stay home play computer games and not look for a job. Our question to you is how do we motivate him to work?"

Click here for the answer...

I had taken away my son’s computer game and nintendo privileges ‘until things improved at school’ (which I know is a bit vague)...

Thank you so much for that Mark. I understand. I’m definitely working the program, not jumping ahead, and believe me I know from experience there is no magic bullet. I’m into week 2 now and have read/watched both articles. But I do need clarification on how to proceed with this week’s assignments, if that’s ok:

So do you mean you think I should just forget school issues and the moment and let them deal with it in order to just focus on the program at home? For example, before I started the program I had taken away my son’s computer game and nintendo privileges ‘until things improved at school’ (which I know is a bit vague). Should I therefore scrap that consequence in order to just focus on the saying yes/say no practice?

Kind regards
L.

`````````````````

Hi L.,

Yes.

Start with a clean slate. ONLY implement session #1 assignments during week #1 ...session #2 assignments during week #2 ...and so on.

Mark

Online Parent Support