by Alena Savoy

Created on: May 13, 2008

Every teenager is the same with the raging hormones, the mood swings and yes, puberty. Every teenager wants to be his or her own person. They feel that they want to start breaking off from their parents and be more independent. But of course, they are probably too young to drive and get a job. So what they decide to do is ask their parents to take them to parties, and of course the parents will tell them no.

Now, the reason that the answer will always be no is because the parents love their teenager. In the parents perspective, they are still their "little boy or girl".

Teenagers can be very disrespectful at times. I know how it is. When I was a little girl, I was the baby. My mother spoiled me to death and I would get whatever I wanted. This put a strain on my brother and sisters and they would lash out on my mom for paying more attention to me than to her. Thus, causing them to shout swear words at her, and storming off to their rooms saying the famous line, "you are ruining my life!"

The main reason that teenagers act like this is for attention and to get whatever they want. They are still in the faze that mommy will come and kiss the "boo boos" away and make it all better. But what "mom" is trying to do is teach her children that it is time to "leave the nest," so to speak.

A MESSAGE TO ALL PARENTS:

A few tips for dealing with a disrespectful teenager:

1. Don't spoil them. If you start to spoil a teenager, they will take advantage of this, and when you tell them no, they will be very angry and storm off for not getting what they want.

2. Give respect to get respect. I know at times this may be hard, but if you give your teenager the respect that he or she deserves, they will give you the respect back.

3. Give them some privacy. During the puberty years, teenagers want to have some privacy. If they have the door closed, knock first. This will in turn make your teenager feel like you are giving them privacy and respect by knocking.

4. Trust them to go out with friends. This is very important especially for teen-aged girls. It is okay to let her go out with her friends once in a while. Even on her first date. I know all the dads out there don't want to see their little girl grow up, but it's just a part of life.

5. Don't worry about your teenager having sex. Most teenagers are curious, I'll admit. But they don't just want to jump in and start having sex with just anyone. They will wait for the right one to come along, and hopefully wait until they are married. Also, with all of the STD's around nowadays, I don't think they would want to catch something. So, don't worry.

These are just a few tips to help make the parents' lives a little easier. After all, this article was written by a 19 year old.

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