Exhaustion is all too familiar. Your devote your days to a career — the tedious demands of an equally tedious manager — before struggling through traffic. Cars and their obnoxious engines follow you home; and evening arrives with no celebration, just a yawn. You’re… tired.
And your teen, of course, deems this the perfect moment to ignore the rules. He pushes at the borders of propriety, trying to make them yield: certain you’ll offer no reprimands. Your quest for sleep is well-known; he’s using it against you now. And you’re tempted to let him, promising to provide punishments later. You have time.
This is a common compromise made by parents. It’s also, however, a mistake.
Rebellion defines teenagers: they assert their power at every opportunity, trying to gauge what is possible. When too tired mothers and fathers allow this to occur, however, it causes complications — with youths assuming the rules no longer apply. This sparks defiance and a total loss of control.
It’s imperative therefore that all parents refuse to submit to such obvious manipulations. Consistency is instead needed. Disciplining teens demands repeating the same actions for the same causes. Punishments are necessary and can’t be ignored for the sake of sparing an argument. If rules are broken, they must be addressed. If problems occur, they must be corrected. This is the only way to ensure a message is understood.
Teenagers delight in breaking expectations. Parents must remain vigilant — and offer the necessary responses. Exhaustion is no longer an excuse.
