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Boot Camps for Troubled Teens
Parents struggling with a troubled teen or pre-adolescent often give the idle threat, "I'm going to send you to military school!" In recent years, short-term juvenile boot camps have often been the new threat over long-term military schools. Before you send a troubled teen with behavioral and emotional problems to a juvenile boot camp, it's important that you understand what these boot camps are and how effective (or not) they are in transforming angry, unhappy, struggling teens. Here we give general information about these juvenile boot camps and alternatives to boot camps.
New: The National Institutes of Health says boot camps don't work! Read more. >>
The theory behind many boot camps is that if you scream enough at children and discipline them, they will "get in line." Angry, defiant, oppositional teenagers may fall in line while in the intensely overwhelming, military-like environment of a boot camp, but in most cases these short-term "scream camps" do not create lasting changes in troubled teens. It is more likely this type of setting will create more hostility and resentment toward authority figures. When adolescents are struggling to find their place in the world, they need to learn how to ACT in the world. The world is not a boot camp. It is a tough place at times, and does require cooperation, kindness, reliability, and other positive behavioral qualities, but we hope the lesson your child learns is not, "The loudest and meanest wins!" Aren't we essentially teaching children this when we send them to a military-style boot camp? Most troubled teens need structure, strong guidance, therapy, and the discovery of natural consequences of behavior. For this reason, if your adolescent is truly struggling with behavior, emotions, and academics, they need something that is more sophisticated and sensitive then a tough drill sergeant in his or her face.
Juvenile Boot Camps is sponsored by Aspen Education Group, outdoor programs that help struggling teens transform their lives.
Juvenile Boot Camps for Troubled Teens - Juvenile Boot Camps for Boys - Juvenile Boot Camps for Girls
Are you experiencing family conflict in the home? Has your troubled teen recently changed to a negative peer group? Has there been experimentation with drugs and alcohol?
Outback can Help.