A friend of mine told me she is ready to break her foot off in her teenage son’s ass! Sound familiar? I’m sure it does. Even I wanted to choke the hell out of my teenager but I knew that prison orange doesn’t bring out my complexion the way other colors do. So I went to other options.
When you’re a single mother raising a young man, you’re going to go through challenges regardless of how hard you pray. Some of our kids hold resentment toward the supportive parent because there isn’t anyone else around to blame. My son did it and his father lives in PG County! Mothers are the nurturers. We kiss the boo-boo’s away. We keep the boogie man away. We love and love hard. So it’s easy for our son’s to treat us like crap because we’ll be right back to make sure they brushed their teeth at night.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t break your foot off in their asses, but there are other solutions that I think you should try first:
Giving him meaningful responsibilities can help his self worth, especially if it’s an important task. Instead of giving him jobs such as cleaning his room, choose something more important, such as dropping a sibling off at a weekly activity or monitoring homework.
(If that doesn’t work…)
Offer choices to your teen instead of simply telling her what she is expected to do. Think back to when she was a small child–abstract choices were daunting, but narrowing down those choices helped her to more easily decide. Giving a few choices to your teen can help them to feel more in control of their own lives, resulting in a more pleasant, less disrespectful child.
(If that doesn’t work…)
Give yourself a timeout when you feel like your temper is rising. Don’t let yourself disrespect your teen, or let him see you lose your temper, shout or say hurtful things that you may regret. If you’re in a heated discussion, excuse yourself for a few moments until you can come back with a more rational approach.
(If that doesn’t work…)
Boot Camps/Alternative Schools for Troubled Teens:
Related stories:
Message To Single Moms Of Young Black Boys
YourLifeMatters….Message To Young Black Men
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