"Help for my troubled teen" is a phone call away

When your child-rearing nightmares become your own experiences

When you are crying out for “help for my troubled teen,” then this scenario may remind you of someone.  Could you hear a story like this and think of one similar to it from your own family?  You bought your son a motorcycle, because he finally proved he could get A’s in school and stopped being mean to his siblings..  On his new report card, he is failing one or more classes.  Last night he went to ball practice, but did not return home until the wee hours.   He did not call either, even though you gave in and let him have a cellular phone.  He wasn’t answering it, and like other times had plenty of excuses why.  You don’t know where he was because he refuses to tell you.  So you ground him and forbid the use of the motorcycle. 

Is anything really working?

This is not the first time you grounded him and it clearly doesn’t do any good.  Finally, in desperation and fatigue from arguing with a stone wall, you send him to his room.  He quietly leaves and goes to his room where he climbs out the window, starts up the motorcycle and takes off.  You are left angry, frustrated, and at wits end with the knowledge that you are no longer having any effect and the only one suffering is you.

When does enough become enough?

Sound familiar?  When you say, “Please, get me help for my troubled teen!”, how do you decide when enough is enough?  When do you know for sure that you need outside help?  How many times have you been hoodwinked into thinking the problems are finally getting behind you only to be blown off again and seeing it is—once again—worse than ever?

Boys will be boys.  Yes.  We’ve all heard that one before.  Maybe you (or your spouse) have even said it more than once.  Boys being boys is one thing, but an out-of-control teen is entirely something else.  Adolescence is about experimentation.  That is just part of the psychology of adolescent development.  For most of us, experimentation with limits was about chewing gum in class, kissing and necking with a new girlfriend, being noisy, racing cars, loud parties, and maybe even cigarettes and beer.  At least that is how it was “back in the day.”  Now, teenagers--and especially boys--have even more dangerous temptations to indulge their experimentation.  Drugs.  Alcohol.  Unprotected sex.  Illegal activities such as shoplifting, vandalism, theft, destruction of property.  Telling the difference between “boys just being boys” and boys doing destructive and illegal activities would seem to be fairly easy, but when it is your son involved, and you have sworn to yourself that you will stand by him no matter what (cautiously called unconditional love),  it gets terribly difficult to see where the lines are drawn.

Turning the corner toward better prospects

Deciding to actually say, “I need help for my troubled teen" is the biggest step.  Start with a few simple guidelines.  If the negative behavior is regular and has continued for six months or more, you have passed the point where you can handle it alone.  There is nothing wrong with realizing that.  Unless a parent is specifically trained in behavior modification and adolescent psychology, no parent could (any more than a parent could treat a serious physical illness without proper training).  These are not experiences most parents have to go through, but you are not alone.  You aren’t the first one to experience such frustration and, unfortunately, you will not be the last.

Here are some of the deciding points that help you move forward to seek help:

• You are concerned about his make-up, mentally.
• You are tired of disciplining, over and over, for the same thing with no results.
• He does not even listen to you when you are disciplining him.
• He blows off all advice, rules, and restrictions.
• He has become too aggressive for you to handle.
• His behavior is getting between your marriage relationship with your partner.
• New ideas and friendly advice no longer work. 
• Nothing else seems to work, either.
• You begin to see how he is manipulating you to get just what he wants.

The out-of-control behavior must be stopped

One thing is for certain, such behavior cannot go on; it cannot become ingrained.  Neither you nor your son can afford the life-long consequences of running full speed down the wrong road.  If even one of the negative, destructive behaviors is illegal then--believe it or not--prison time is a very real possibility in the near future.  Which would you pick?  Treatment at an earlier age to modify destructive and illegal behavior, or prison time?  Don’t kid yourself.  It happens to more and more every year and every one of them thought that it could never happen to them.  These behaviors are not the normal adolescent behaviors of “boys just being boys.”

Arivaca Boys Ranch has several therapeutic methods that will almost certainly help in making “the problem” go away.  First, we have trained, psychological counselors who can come up with solutions just as fast as the boys can come up with excuses.  We are a working horse ranch with wranglers trained in dealing with adolescent male thinking.  Through them, the boys learn new meanings for responsibility, caring, follow-through, and work.  We have a fully accredited high school to recover lost academics and getting your son back on a successful track leading to high school graduation.  We employ equine therapy with proven results in modifying behavior and satisfying the shortfall in appreciation of nurturing.  Most of all, the boys learn what it has felt like for the parents, and the parents learn to communicate more effectively with their sons.  Yes, a good part of the therapy is made up of re-engaging parents in positive ways.

Call us.  Reach us at our toll-free number (877) 88-MYSON or (877) 885-9766.  Or, you can drop us a short note through our website “Contact Us” page.

Contact us for enrollment information
Home page

---