Pastoral Care

Teenage behaviour: what to expect and why 

As part of growing up and becoming independent, your child needs to test out independent ideas and ways of behaving. Sometimes this involves disagreeing with you, giving you a bit of attitude, pushing the limits and boundaries you set, wanting to be more like friends and even taking risks.

Although it can be stressful for you, this is all a normal and common part of adolescence. And this phase will pass.

Some of the changes in teenage behaviour are explained by the way teenage brains develop. The parts of the teenage brain responsible for impulse control don’t fully mature until about age 25. The brain changes offer upsides and downsides – teenagers can be imaginative, passionate, sensitive, impulsive, moody and unpredictable.

Confident teenagers have the ability to avoid people and situations that aren’t right for them, and to find those that are. You can build your child’s confidence by looking for practical and positive activities that give your child a good chance of success, and praising your child for putting in a good effort.

Encouraging good teenage behaviour

Encouraging good teenage behaviour is about communicating openly with your child, being consistent, and creating and maintaining a warm and loving family environment. This positive and supportive approach to teenage behaviour often means you have less need for discipline.

When you do need to use discipline for teenagers, the most effective strategies focus on setting agreed limits and helping teenagers work within them. Rules, limits and boundaries help your child learn independence, manage and take responsibility for his behaviour, and solve problems. It’s good if you can get your child involved in negotiating and setting these limits.

This approach to teenage behaviour is usually better than punishment and consequences. That’s because it helps your child develop her own standards for appropriate behaviour and respect for others.

Praise and encouragement are powerful motivators. Teenagers might seem more self-sufficient, but your child still needs your approval. When you praise your child for positive behaviour, it can encourage him to keep behaving like that. But just remember – teenagers might prefer it if you praise them privately rather than making a big deal in public.

Handling disrespectful behaviour

Rude or disrespectful behaviour is pretty common in teenagers – although not all teenagers behave this way.

If this kind of behaviour is an issue in your family, setting clear rules lets your child know what you expect. For example, you could say, ‘We speak respectfully in our family. This means we don’t call people names’.

Involving your child in these discussions means you can later remind her that she helped make the rules, and that she agreed to them.

Modelling these rules in your own behaviour shows that you mean what you say. Also, your child will notice if you say one thing but do something else.

If you need to talk to your child about some rude behaviour, staying calm and picking your moment will help the conversation go better. It can also help if you focus on your child’s behaviour. Instead of saying, ‘You’re rude’, you could try saying something like, ‘I feel hurt when you speak like that to me’.

A video guide to disrespectful behaviour takes you through a behaviour scenario and shows you how different approaches to handling disrespectful behaviour get different results.

Common concerns about teenage behaviour

Fighting with siblings

Teenage sibling fighting can be stressful for parents, but it’s normal. And as long as it doesn’t get physical, it helps children learn important life skills – like how to sort out problems, deal with different opinions, and treat others with respect.

When you coach your children in sorting out their conflicts, you help them develop these skills. You can also motivate them to resolve fights themselves. For example, if they’re fighting over the computer, you could take away their access to it until they can work out a solution together.

Peer influence

Peer influence is when you do something you wouldn’t otherwise do because you want to feel accepted and valued by others. It isn’t just doing something against your will, and it can actually be positive. Sometimes it might involve following scenes, trends and fashions to feel part of a social group – this is normal for teenagers.

If your child is confident, with a strong sense of himself and his values, it’s more likely he’ll know where to draw the line when it comes to peer influence.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is using modern communication technology to deliberately and repeatedly harass, humiliate, embarrass, torment, threaten, pick on or intimidate someone. It can be tough to spot, but there are steps you and your child can take to prevent and stop cyberbullying .

Teenage parties

As your child gets older, she’ll probably want to go to parties with her friends, or host a party at home.

Teenage parties get a lot of bad press, but they can be an important and positive aspect of your child’s social life and development. There’s no one right way to handle them, but by talking about ground rules, planning ahead in case things go wrong, and keeping the lines of communication open, you can help your child stay safe – and have fun too.

Risk-taking

Risk-taking is an important way for teenagers to learn about themselves. It can go from trying new tricks at the skate park to truancy, smoking, drug-taking, underage alcohol use, unsafe or underage sexual behaviour and gambling.

You can help your child learn to assess risks. Talking about your family values and keeping the lines of communication open is also a good idea. And you might be able to channel the desire to take risks into extracurricular activities or community activities like sports, music or drama.

If you’re worried about teenage behaviour

A lot of teenage behaviour is a normal part of growing towards young adulthood.

But you might be worried if there are significant and negative changes in your child’s attitude or behaviour, along with other changes like mood swings, behaviour changes that are out of character, withdrawal from family or friends and usual activities, or poor school attendance.

If you’re concerned about your child’s behaviour, you could: discuss your concerns with your child to see whether he can tell you what’s going on; talk to other parents and find out what they do consider seeking professional support; good people to start with include school counsellors, teachers and your GP. 

More information on this article can be found at: https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/behaviour/behaviour-questions-issues/teen-behaviour-overview

The Pastoral Care Team