Has your child crossed the line from acting-out to abusive and violent behavior? When a child or teen starts using intimidation, violence and aggression to solve problems, it’s normal to feel frightened, angry, isolated, ashamed, and/or disbelief that it is even happening. As we frequently remind parents, there is no excuse for abuse. Even if your child has a diagnosis, or is going through a tough time, this type of behavior is never acceptable. If violent and aggressive behavior is happening in your home, it's important to learn effective strategies to keep everyone safe, help your child learn more appropriate means of solving problems, and hold your child accountable for the choice to become abusive. The articles below provide information to assist you in dealing with abusive, violent and aggressive behavior in children.
Signs of Parental Abuse: What to Do When Your Child or Teen Hits You
Talking with parents about sexuality and online safety, it seems as if everyone just wants to know what button to push or what software to buy to ensure their child never sees porn, never talks to strangers online, and never posts provocative pictures. So let me say this from the get-go: There is nothing you... Read more »
Have things become so difficult with your teen that you’re considering sending him to a boot camp? You’re not alone; many people first find Empowering Parents and The Total Transformation Program when they are searching the web or information on behavioral boot camps for teens. It’s not unusual to reach the point where you consider... Read more »
Do your kids make you feel like an ogre when you set limits? Does the word “no” kick off whining, yelling and protests? How many times have you heard your nine-year-old say something like: “That’s not fair! Brandon’s mom lets him watch Sons of Anarchy!” Or does this sound familiar: “Jessica’s dad lets her stay... Read more »
Soon we will be carving pumpkins, raking leaves, pulling scarves out of the back of the closet…and bracing ourselves for parent-teacher conferences. Some parents go to conferences expecting glowing reports, but many of us dread them. Maybe it’s because, like me, you’ve had a prior bad experience. I remember going to my first parent-teacher conference when... Read more »
Do you ever struggle with temper tantrums at your house? You know what they involve: yelling, screaming, bad-language, and all-out loss of control until you almost can’t take it anymore and you just want to…put yourself in time out? Yes, I’m talking about our own parental "temper tantrums,"... Read more »
Jennifer’s son began hitting her when he was 14 years old. “I just didn’t know what to do,” she told us. “If anyone else had hit me, I would have called the police. But this was my son! I didn’t want him arrested but I wanted the abuse to stop. I was ashamed to admit... Read more »
Recently, a frustrated mom sat in my office and said, “I just don’t know what to do anymore. We’ve tried everything! There’s no punishment that gets through to our child; there’s nothing we can say that will fix her behavior. There’s so much going on we just don’t know where to start.” Sound familiar?... Read more »
Karen hasn’t slept through the night in years—she’s too worried about her son Mason making it through high school. He tried two different schools and now takes online classes, but that's not working, either. Karen has resorted to sitting with him for three hours every night (after coming home from her full-time job) to help... Read more »
Everyone gets mad sometimes, children and adults alike. Anger is an emotion that can range from slightly irritated to moderately angry, all the way to full-blown rage. A child’s anger often makes us feel uncomfortable, so there can be a natural tendency to try and change the situation for your child, so the anger will... Read more »
Have you been looking back on the last year, reflecting on how things went with your child? If so, perhaps you feel frustrated when you think about his or her behavior—and your reaction to it. Maybe you feel like no matter what you do as a parent, nothing changes. But understand that positive change can... Read more »