Can a parent afford not to get help for their troubled teen?

A mistake by an out of control child can cost the parents thousands of dollars. Schools for troubled teens can cost tens of thousands of dollars per year. Some consider the prices of boarding schools unfair. There are schools that are sincerely concerned about the kids, and programs that are mostly concerned about the bottom line. Parents should visit any potential schools to determine how the teens are treated. Parents looking for help for a troubled teen are sometimes discouraged at the prices of the options available. Parents who are able to rationally weigh the options are surprised at the cost of not getting their child helped. The price of not getting their child appropriate help may far exceed the tuition requirements they are faced with. The cost of missing work, repairing damages caused by an out of control teen, court costs, damages to other people's property and the list goes on. The causes of negative teen behavior are many, but one common problem is peer pressure. There are teen boot camps, boarding schools, and schools for troubled teens that use positive peer pressure to help students make appropriate changes. Some boot camps for troubled teens have even started using positive peer pressure as a method of change negative behaviors.

How long does it take to change a troubled teen?

Are short term programs effective? On television everything seems to get fixed within the half hour allotted for each program excluding time for commercials. We have become a quick fix people wanting things done now and we forget that sometimes things are not fixed immediately. Schools for troubled teens face the same uphill battle of quick fix or short term, or long term programs. Boarding schools that deal with troubled teens are most effective if they are for a length of at least 1 year. Negative peer pressure is one of the greatest problems facing the youth of today. The negative peer pressure they have fallen prey to is usually reversed when they go to a school, but this process takes time. There have been many talk shows done on teen boot camps. They depict a teen being taken from the stage and returned a week or a weekend later totally reformed. This is the quick fix scenario being portrayed for all of America to see. In reality it takes about 12- 15 months to help a teen develop new habits sufficient to return home. In most cases a short answer or "quick fix" will only have a short span of effectiveness.