What would you do as a parent to help your teenager?

Question

My son got involved in the wrong crowd. He is a good kid. Straight A's. Wants to be a doctor and help people.

Recently he has been friends with a kid that isn't so good. This "friend" convinced a group of kids to rob an elementary school of computers and tv's.

Now he has to be convicted, go to court, do restitution, community service, probably probation...

What can I do to help? He says he is sorry. Is willing to fix everything...but i am afraid he will go downhill socially and mentally.

What would you do as a parent to help?

(friend is gone, family support is there)

Answer 1

i think you should just talk to him and tell him how important it is to get a carreer and graduate. That he shouldnt go down that road. If he says that hes sorry than he is. He sounds like a good kid. Now you as a parent have to make sure he doesnt get involved in the wrong crowd.

Answer 2

just tell him that he dosent want to do anything he will regret later. and that its not worth going down the wrong group of friends road because when he gets in trouble, those friends are nowhere to be found. tell him that he needs to look at his life in a sense that what is best for him, and not what other people think of him. because if he gets caught up in what others think of him, he is just going to get torn down and he will have no confidence in himself at all. because the friends that tear him down, are not friends at all. they will just tear him down and down and he will regret it for the rest of his life. i know it has happened to me. and make sure that he knows what is headed for him if he goes the right way. that he will excel and be loved by his true friends, and that he will prosper. if he goes with the wrong group he will turn into a mess. his life will be run by other people. and tell him that there is hope. hope that you can get out of this mess and be sucsessful. and that you truly care and arent just lecturing him.

Answer 3

The fact that there are going to be consequences for what he did seems like it's going to do a lot to get his head on straight again.

Be very encouraging throughout all of this. Compliment him when he works hard and make sure he knows you love and care about him.

Also, sit him down and talk with him about the situation. Find out more about how he feels about the whole thing and maybe you can discover what it was that pulled him towards those friends. Ask him if he thinks being friends with them is still a good idea or about other people he knows that could be better friends.

And sometimes teenagers just need to go through a short period where they s***w up a lot before they figure themselves out. Some of it is testing boundaries. Some of it is trying to fit in. Watch who he goes back to and give him some freedom, but not too much. Enough so that he knows he's still allowed to make decisions for himself, but also so that he knows that you're still in charge.

Hope that helped a bit.