Most parents don't know how to handle teenagers and the reams of books and other resources attempting to act as tutors to parents often simply add to the chaos and frustration parents feel. The key point to remember is that teenagers today are under a lot of stress and they don't need their parents and other family members to add to it. Instead of fighting with teenagers - who are often more than willing to fight and in fact seem to be genetically programmed to be rebellious at that stage of human development - a middle-of-the-road approach seems to be a good start and stopping battles before they begin is a much better strategy than picking the battles to fight.

Obviously, parents shouldn't allow their teenagers to run "hog wild" and possibly face jail time or expulsion from school. A happy medium is necessary - kids living under your roof need to be expected to follow reasonable rules, and then everything else should be chalked up to experience. Parents need to face various situations with a sense of humor, if for no other reason to try to get through them.

I really like Dr. Phil's books. No book is a panacea but he has very useful tips and hints for turning bad situations around and making mediocre situations much better. Teenagers' brains aren't finished developing so parents need to realize they act in a certain way by nature's decree, but again that shouldn't be an excuse for a teenager not to have to obey the rules.

Teenagers don't want to be treated like children but they are not quite ready for adulthood. I think teenagers feel good when they help others and act responsibly and instead of constant threatening or nagging (easily done), a bit of creative thinking and experimenting should be considered to find ways to encourage teenagers to behave well.

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