How To Deal With Disrespectful Children

Ignoring them is like ignoring a live electric wire.

- Santosh Patanaik

It is quite pervasive in the society for children and teens to be rude and disrespectful towards elders. Sadly, this kind of behaviour from kids is ubiquitous, and seems to be getting worse. If you have a teenager, you're probably familiar with the feeling of being disrespected: your teen rolls her eyes, sighs deeply, no longer laughs at your jokes, goes straight to her room and slams the door, or seems to argue with you all the time. Your once compliant child is becoming a stranger, your parental authority is threatened, and you feel triggered! Disrespectful behaviour like cursing, yelling, arguing, refusing requests, name-calling is a kind of wakeup call to parents. It's signalling you that you need to be in control of the situation and set better limits. Because when children grow up with no respect for authority figures, the consequences are disastrous. The time to start teaching a child respect the elders is when they are young. Even toddlers can learn the basic elements of respect. Remember, respect begins at home.

Causes

Some of it can be attributed to the fact that our culture - movies, music, internet sites and television - often glorifies disrespectful, crude or even cruel behaviour. Further, the challenges of modern parenting also add a layer of complexity.