If you don’t assert your power at home as a parent, you can expect some of the following reactions from your defiant teen:

1. Your teen himself will take hold of the reins of power at home, using his unruly behavior to keep you at bay.

2. You may eventually decide to seek outside help and even lay all the decision-making in the hands of a counselor, or the authority to a boot camp, boarding school, treatment center, wilderness program, or hospital.

3. Conflicts may ensue between you and your spouse, regarding the proper parenting of your child, and he may be left without focused guidance.

4. The warm aura of communication you may have once had with your troubled teen can be replaced by constant nerve strain and argumentation.

5. Your child’s social circle may end up being the ones to impart their own ideals and ways of living to your teen instead of you.

These reactions may be just the start. Matters may even get worse as time passes. The following are possible situations that may arise:

Lack of distinct guidelines and corresponding penalties

If you do not specify exactly what actions or behaviors you frown upon then your teenager may end up taking you on a roller-coaster ride of loopholes! Taking everything you say literally can just be one favorite hobby of your teen. In order to fight this, be concrete.

You will be trailing behind your teenager

Hazy guidelines and penalties will disable your capacity to foresee your teenager’s possible mistakes even before he commits them. Instead of leading the way to proper guidance you’ll be following his actions instead.

Your teenager will get on your nerves and stress you out

The prior two situations mentioned are prime contexts for nerve strain. Your teen may be aware that if he gets you emotional vulnerable then your sound judgment will be affected. And this may make it easier for him to get past penalties he may be facing.

You may come face to face with teen intimidation

Your teenager may turn to using threats of dropping out of school, suicide, substance abuse, pregnancy, and others, in order to make you turn over your power. This strategy works even more against you when it is occurs in a context wherein rules and consequences are unclear.

You may experience a nervous breakdown

If you are faced with teen intimidation for a lengthy period of time, you can expect to gradually foster negative feelings for your child despite how much you love him. The situation may appear to be going nowhere but downhill. Upon realizing this, you become susceptible to a breakdown.