The Pinnacle Schools Reviews Boot Camps

Are Boot Camps Good for Troubled Teens?

If you are experiencing problems with your teenager then it can be very tempting to throw up your hands in despair, make a few phone calls, sign a big check and pack them off to a boot camp.

For some, this is probably the very best thing that you can do when you truly have exhausted all other options. If you have tried counseling and residential programs and nothing has worked to snap your teen out of their bad ways, the truth is that boot camps can be a good idea as a last throw of the dice to get them to shape up.

But for most situations, you are better off to try some less drastic measures first.

The whole point of boot camps is to provide massive leverage for them to change. It shows them that they are not in charge and that there genuinely are consequences for bad behavior. But the problem is that as well as that they also indicate that you as their parent are not really in control. You are trying to smash a walnut with a sledgehammer, and while you may end up with a nut after the hammer-blow, your child will almost certainly be more than a little battered and bruised as a result.

A better next step is generally to explore residential programs which take a more softly-softly approach, but in most cases can have some very satisfying results.

You should look for residential programs where there is a focus on therapy rather than correcting behavior with discipline only. At the end of the day, your child's change needs to come from within them, and no amount of cajoling will change that fact.

At some stage, they need to re-assess their behavior and make a genuine change. If the only prompt for the change is military discipline scenarios, then as soon as they escape and come home many of them will swiftly revert to the way that they were before.

Take time to assess your options and take advice online from other parents who have been in your situation.
"Boot-camping" your teen is not always the best option…