science has proven that the teenage brain is not fully formed. kids make risky and poor decisions because their brains are done yet. parents are responsible for keeping them home at certain hours, but beyond that, there isn't much you can do except provide a good example, set some ground rules, follow through with consequences, and hope for the best.
It's the same at any age! My 20 month old son does crazy things like putting his chair on top of the couch and then tries to sit on it. It is very dangerous yet he is still experimenting with what to do and not to do. The other night he tried to drink pinesol right in front of me. I was stupid to leave it right next to the bucket for just a second as I was reaching for the cap that fell under the fridge. My son walked right over, grabbed it, motioning it towards his mouth. I grabbed it out of his hands and put it up high in our child safe pantry. I am not a bad parent but I have to watch my son like a hawk and limit my stupid decisions, which in turn limits his! I think it will get easier to parent as my son gets older and harder with some issues like peer pressure. My son however naturally likes to do dangerous things and will even look at my husband and I while he does it. In an almost, "Watch me Mama as I hit myself with this plastic bat!" He also now knows that if he causes himself harm, he gets attention from other people. He loves to do this while we are in public. It drives me nuts when middleage women play into his antics, which in turn makes it worse because he is getting the reaction that he wants.
The problem is parents give up, blame society or the media and do not realize that parenting is a 24/7/365 requirement that lasts your entire life. If parents would realize that their children are their #1 priority, then situations like this would diminish. You have to be on them to make the right decisions and that means talking to them all night if you have to. You can't send them to school, summer camps and every extra curricular activities all the time, then give them gadgets and park them in front of the t.v. or computer and expect them to know what you would like them to do or not do in life. There are too many other outside influences that will teach your children horrible things. You have to be their filter. You need to teach them the ills of the world before they have to experience them first hand.
I would say that my parents did an absolutely wonderful job, especially with the parents that raised(better yet didn't raise) them. There were many times that our family would be debating clear into the next day but I always knew where my parents stood on almost all subjects. If I was unclear, I felt comfortable enough to discuss any topic with them and get an honest answer. I wasn't given the, "Just don't because I said so." I was informed of things that could go wrong in life and the many different approaches. My parents knew all my friends and their families and nearly every aspect of my life. Most parents now days barely know where there kid is at any time, let alone their friends. I know I see the missing children reports...missing hgt and weight info...how do you not know that?
I am not saying that there are not children with a mental disease that may make them prone to bad behavior, it just isn't the majority. AND if your kid has a mental illness they should be given the best health professionals to assist with their care.
Any thing less than giving you children your full attention, love, care, respect, BOUNDARIES and expectations, is setting them up to fail in life and as ADULTS. You are not raising children, you are raising ADULTS. I am sooooo sick of parents and their lack of accountability!!!!!
