5 Ways to Avoid Raising Rebellious Children

How you parent your children influences how likely they are to act in rebellious ways. The more you try to control your children’s behavior, the more likely they are to rebel in order to exert their own sense of control.

Rebellious children need something to rebel against. What types of things do kids like to rebel against?

• Being treated unfairly or abusively 
• Rules that are perceived as too strict 
• Being constrained 
• Feeling forced to behave in ways that don’t match the child’s desires 

Here are five ideas for giving your children enough independence so that they have little need to rebel: 

1. Allow your children to do whatever they are capable of doing. 
2. Let your kids to make their own decisions whenever possible. 
3. Guide them in solving their problems but don’t just solve it for them. 
4. Expect your children to make mistakes and help them learn from those mistakes. 
5. Encourage your children to develop and follow their own passions.

By giving your children the freedom to make their own age-appropriate decisions, they will have little need to rebel.