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Teenager misbehaving

2 replies

Mommabear5 · 06/07/2021 17:13

Hi I’m new here need advice my 2nd eldest she’s 14 and dosnt listen to me or her dad.I take away her phone/laptop/tv/pocket money.She steals from me even though I give her money when I see she has earned it.We asked her to put her best effort into her school work nd study she just wants her phone in her face nd lies that she studies or does her homework.God I love her but I’m at my last breath I threatened her with this outrageous chore list to make her do if she didn’t redeem herself she went and stole from me now I told her she has to do nd she won’t even do that keeps saying she forgot or didn’t have time but she is grounded so has lots and of time.I have talked to her explaining that this behaviour is unacceptable but nothing I do seems to work nd she won’t apologise it’s like she sees she hasn’t done anything wrong .Im doing something wrong maybe I’m giving in too soon not following through with discipline.I like to reward good behaviour to show I see they are trying their best and it’s progess but this don’t seem to work for my daughter she sees it as she has been let off nd constantly continues with the same disruptive behaviour.I feel so drained.She starts constant arguing with her other siblings.Now I have five kids nd I do spend time with them all I make sure I spend one too one with them and talk what’s on their minds.

OP posts:
maxelly · 07/07/2021 14:41

Hi, just bumping you a bit as this board can get quiet. I'm far from an expert but I would say (as you've found), what doesn't work with teenagers is escalating consequences that they can tell you aren't really prepared or able to follow through with, then when inevitably they still act up, escalating further and further until effectively they're grounded/lost their phone/pocket money/wifi until the end of time and you're in a kind of stand-off with them seeing who'll back down first - usually it isn't the teenager in that scenario!

TBH I never really liked using grounding as a punishment, as getting them out of the house to their hobbies/see their friends regularly was essential to the sanity of the rest of us and generally they were much nicer to be around as well if they'd been out of the house rather than cooped up all day which was just horrendous, in particular making sure they got at least some physical exercise was absolutely critical so avoid punishments that prevent this. I did use taking their phones and/or turning off wifi as a punishment occasionally although again the subsequent wailing tantrums felt more like punishment for me at times!

So I would say try and pick your battles, maybe sit down with her and your other kids and set some basic 'house rules' that everyone can sign up to, don't be too ambitious, you want them to be achievable or you'll drive yourself into a tizzy constantly policing them (at one point I tried for no swearing in the house, ours were foul-mouthed as to be fair are DH and I at times Blush so that turned out to be unenforceable so we settled for 'no swearing at one another or in anger'). I think it's 50% treat them like an adult so listen to what they have to say and take into account preferences, concede ground or comprise wherever possible (one of ours told us she felt so anxious if phone was taken off her she actually went into an panic-y spiral so we agreed to avoid using that as a punishment) and 50% treat them like they're toddlers (teenage brains esp when wound up are not far from functioning like a toddlers, which explains some of their behaviour!), so minimal choices only, avoid overwhelming them, strong routine, fresh air and exercise every day, simple and immediate consequences with rapid forgiveness of bad behaviour, try and make things seem like their idea not yours wherever you can, ignore tantrums, you know the drill Grin.

Re school work, I wasn't averse to a bit of bribery (rewards for good exam results/reports etc) but equally 14 is quite a good age to let them experience the natural consequences of not doing their work - getting into trouble at school etc., as it's unlikely to have too much of a long-term impact (within reason of course!). By 16/18 the exam results start to actually matter so you'd get a bit more anxious if she really is falling behind but I wonder if trying to get her to take a bit more accountability for her own work rather than you nagging/arguing with her to do it might work? You could try having a grown up conversation with her about what she wants to do in the future, if there's a particular career path or college course she wants to do or even if she just thinks she wants to go to uni or do an apprenticeship or whatever, you will be able to look up the entry requirements so she knows she needs to get however many GCSEs or whatever, bit of inspiration might help her feel she's working for herself rather than for you? Pick your moment to do this of course, if she's in the middle of a screaming ab-dab about having to do her homework she won't exactly be receptive Grin.

Finally look after yourself, parenting teenagers is tough but it does pass eventually, you might even come to miss them once they're grown up and gone much as you might willingly move to Timbucktu and never see them again right now!

maxelly · 07/07/2021 14:53

Just to add, I know the stealing is awful and you are rightly punishing her, but again along the theme of treating her like a toddler, I would really try as hard as you can to avoid giving her the temptation.
Teenagers have really, really poor impulse control so if she wants money and sees your purse lying around with cash in it, even if the rational part of her brain knows it's wrong and she shouldn't, she can get swept along on the impulse to take it. So I think it would be a big help to simply not carry cash around and/or change the pin on your cards or whatever so she can't take it. If you must have cash in the house can you get a lockable box or safe to store it in?

The stealing may also not be about the cash per se (particularly as she does get pocket money), it could be attention seeking behaviour (attention seekers thrive off any attention even negative/being punished, sometimes it doesn't even matter how much positive attention you give them, they still seek the drama caused by behaving badly so what tends to work is to be very calm and unemotional about it if that's what you think it is) or it could be something like anxiety about keeping up with her friends which is a big and weird thing for them at that age, one of mine got super wound up at a similar age about not being given money to buy lunch every day and started wanting to dip into his savings/hobby money to take in, I didn't understand it at all as I pre-paid for his lunches so he wasn't going hungry but I eventually established it was about keeping up with his group of friends who were all going to the local shop instead of the school canteen to buy junk etc. with their lunch money Hmm and he was worried he would seem 'sad' if he couldn't keep up - no-one had actually commented on it to him, it was all in his head but we agreed a compromise where he could have a certain amount per week for junk but had to still have a proper canteen lunch as well (not sure he did but the requests for more money tailed off a bit)...

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