You’re a good parent. You’ve provided your child with all of his spiritual, physical, emotional, and economic needs. You’ve also been a good leader and model. You have shown your child by personal example the right way to live his life.

Since the child has been cooperative and good through puberty, you have been pleased with your progress. You sometimes secretly congratulate yourself and more openly tell others about your wonderful children.

Then everything crashes down on you. Your child rebels. He may simply refuse to do chores or talk back. He may travel to another country for an extended time. He may set up a separate residence. His rebellion could take many other forms as well.

Indeed, a child who does not rebel is either letting it out in some other way, or delaying it. It may be difficult to deal with a child who rebels, but he is going through the difficult and unpredictable stage of changing from a child to an independent adult.

Your child's rebellion marks a time for deep introspection. There are two possibilities:

• The rebellion is your fault
• The rebellion is not your fault

If your introspection reveals that it is your fault, and that you had done something wrong, then there were probably some advance signs. You should have been able to handle them before the tragedy or the crisis struck your child. As a good parent, you probably did everything possible to prevent any problems. If this is the case, then this article does not apply to you.

If your introspection, which may have been assisted by professionals, determines that you are not to blame, then please read on.

However, be careful about reading articles from other sources. Many contradictory (and thus confusing) material has been written about childhood rebellions. This website is not intended to confuse you even more.

This section, Rebels, describes childhood rebellions that are experienced by nearly all children. Another section, Leaves, relates to a more severe situation, in which the child runs away from home. The results of leaving home sometimes last longer may be more troubling.

A note about politically correct text

Obviously, both boys and girls may rebel, and they may both leave home. This website (usually) uses the masculine form, out of convenience. Feel free to read "boys and girls" when you read "boys;" "he or she" when you read "he," and so on.