By Sandy Egan

Before I  jump into the third part of my “Art of Discipline” series, I must digress slightly to shed some light upon my most strongly held opinion about children and discipline. Once a child reaches puberty, the teenager views adults very differently than they did as children. The teenager will never view the parent as the omnipotent being they once did, and they will begin to see you as the imperfect being that you undoubtedly are. This is why it is so important to establish parental authority when the child is young. Teenagers walk a fine line between childhood and adulthood, and even though they may fight it, they need to know that someone close to them has a better handle on life than they do. If you’ve done a good job establishing authority with your teenager as a child, maintaining that authority will be easier when the teenager rebels against it.

They will rebel against authority, I guarantee it. How they do it depends on the individual child and what rules you’ve set up in the house, but be prepared. It’s inevitable, and crucial that the teenager goes through this stage. The only thing worse than a rebellious teenager is a rebellious adult who won’t move out of your home.

I wanted to share some funny stories about my daughter, because I believe that she got most of her rebellious expression out fairly young. It will also shed some light onto why I feel as though the establishment of authority is so important. I promised my daughter I would let her read the stories before I posted them, so I will leave you at this point to look forward to my next group of postings. Some may make you laugh, some may make you cry, and some may just dumfound you. I felt all of these emotions when the stories actually occurred. You have been prepared!