Disrespect develops in teenagers as they navigate the waters from childhood to adulthood. It is not alarming but you should not ignore it.
You love your children and want them to understand the rules and discipline but it is not an easy thing to do with them in their early adolescence.
Developing a strategy to deal with disrespectful teenagers is the only way forward for both parents and teenagers. You should know the Dos and Donts when dealing with a teenager.
Here are a few tips from thesis services that will make it simple for you to handle a disrespectful teen.
1. Understand the Teenage Brain:
You need to understand the brain of a child. As they say that 95 percent brain is developed by the age of 6. The problem that remains, is the wiring of this brain is not connected. It is just like a missing connection between key points of the brain.
In a teenage brain prefrontal cortex, remote control in the analogy of TV is not yet developed and connected completely. It means they can get frustrated, unable to form judgments, or control their impulses.
This can be one major reason teenagers being an emotional wreck sometimes.
If you understand their biological basis of disrespectful behavior of a teenager, you can better deal with it. It makes you focus on behavior instead of a person.
2. Emotional Needs underlying disrespectful Behavior:
Sometimes there are emotional needs of teenagers yet to be met. The desire to meet these needs may cause disrespectful behavior towards their parent.
Teenagers use this kind of behavior to seek attention from parents or give an indication of being rejected.
You need to sit down with the teenagers and let them express themselves. Make sure to let them know that you are not being judgmental here and have unconditional love for them.
It may not be easy to handle the emotional needs of your teenagers. Understanding their emotional needs will make you empathize with them at least.
3. Be a Role Model:
The best thing you can do to deal with your disrespectful teenager is to make sure that you behave with others in exactly the same manner you want teenagers to do.
It becomes quite confusing for teenagers when they see their parents behaving disrespectfully and asking them to not do the same.
Children and teenagers always look at their parents as their role model and take inspiration from them.
Being respectful to others, to your family, and the teenagers become more important when you have to deal with disrespectful teenagers.
This kind of role modeling should start at an early stage, but it is better to adopt late rather than not adopting at all. This is a great step towards shaping the life of your teenager the way you want.
4. Ignore Mild Forms of Disrespect:
You should not be demanding absolute respect from your teenagers. It is neither desirable not healthy.
It is best to ignore the mild acts of disrespect from your children. Mild acts of disrespect include raised eyebrows, shrugging shoulders, muttering under the breath, or feigned boredom. These kinds of behaviors are common and part of the growth in teenagers so taking them seriously will be of no use or betterment.
It doesn’t mean you should ignore the blatant rudeness. Take this kind of activity seriously and discuss with teenagers to know the reasons behind it.
5. Clear and Consistent Boundaries:
One common reason for disrespectful behavior in teenagers is no clear rules and boundaries for behavior. Teenagers in families, that have no defined rules and boundaries or inconsistent in applying the defined rules, tend to develop disrespectable behavior.
Defining clear rules and boundaries for children at an early stage keeps them in check. It also defines the limits that must not be crossed by teenagers.
It is important to apply the rules and boundaries strictly. This will help you in dealing with any disrespect of kid’s behavior from the start.
