Helping Children After Therapeutic Boarding School

Written by Wood Creek Academy

Attending a boys’ boarding school can be one of the best ways for troubled kids to get their lives back on track. Going to a therapeutic boarding school such as Wood Creek Academy gives challenging teens a chance to learn the value of discipline and self-respect in a unique outdoors environment. However, the work isn’t done when a student returns from their journey. In fact, in many cases coming back home is just the beginning.

Therapeutic boarding schools can provide a structure for troubled teens to evaluate their lives and decide to make positive changes. But these changes can be short-lived if their parents aren’t able to do the follow-up work needed to keep them on the right track. Here are a few things that you should keep in mind when helping your child continue the progress they made at a boarding school program:

Set Guidelines and Punishments…and Be Firm

Teenagers respond well when there are firm guidelines for their behavior in place along with clear punishments for when they break the rules. The time to talk with them about the rules and discipline is when you are both calm and before any problems come up. Waiting until your teen does something you don’t like to discuss punishments only makes it feel arbitrary and leads to hurt feelings.

You’ll also want to make sure that you are firm with your punishments. Some teams are very good at cajoling, pleading or begging their parents to reduce their punishment. You might want to make sure your kids are happy but your first goal as a parent is to set rules and make sure they are followed.

Be On the Lookout for Signs of Anger or Hostility

Your teenager is likely giving you clear signs if they are upset about something – even if you can’t see the signs. As a parent, it’s important that you are paying attention to your kid’s emotional state, particularly if they have trouble expressing their emotions and bottle in their anger until it explodes. Perhaps your child gets very quiet before they get angry, or maybe they become fidgety and irritable. Whatever the case is, it’s important to identify your child’s anger before it turns into something more serious.

Understand How to Help Your Teen Relieve Their Anger

One of the things that kids learn in troubled teenagers programs is how to take their feelings of anger and deal with them in productive or non-dangerous manners. You can help your kid to this by finding activities which will reduce their stress and anger. This can be something as simple as hitting a pillow or as emotional as writing a story expressing their feelings.

——————————————————————————————-

Located in western Montana, Wood Creek Academy is a therapeutic boot camp alternative for teenagers dealing with anger and discipline issues. The teen wilderness program helps kids learn self-respect while working in teams.