Navigating Teenage RebellionSample

Day 6: Rebellious Boys? Step in Dad!

The hormones in a teen boy cause them to want to rise up and have dominion over all of THEIR earth. This is not a bad thing. It prepares them to someday lead their own family. When my boys became teenagers, they began to push me away. At first, I was deeply offended. My husband relayed something he had been reading in John Eldredge’s book Wild at Heart. Close to the time a boy turns 13, moms need to step AWAY and dads need to step IN.

Almost every young boy wants to grow up to be just like his dad. They want to go out and “chop down a tree” and show off their muscles. After hormones hit their body, they often push mom away in an effort to embrace manhood. And their interest in girls piques, since girls somehow no longer have cooties. Dad learned to step in and I learned to step back. It was extremely difficult for me, but I knew they would not speak to their father as they had been speaking to me. Man code wouldn’t allow such disrespect. They would more likely listen to him.

It is not the school’s or government’s responsibility to train our children. It is our responsibility. It is our duty to teach them diligently. This includes both mom and dad. The Scriptures are clear that dads must pray for and engage their children in the kind of deep, heart-to-heart conversations that impart more than facts, but teach wisdom. My husband started having the difficult teen discussions. He very intentionally carved out new time to hang out and have fun with them, whether they wanted to or not. We grounded them from their compromising friends, so they had little else to do in their free time. As my husband fostered a deeper relationship WITH them, they became more secure in his LOVE for them.