You might be concerned about how others will react to your child's rebellion. You might think that they will feel negatively about you or about your rebellious child.

Don't worry about it. It won't help anyhow. There’s little to do about wagging tongues and frivolous opinions. Devote your energies to things that you can control rather than to this issue.

Reactions of other children to your parenting abilities

You may also be concerned that the rebellion will cause your other children, other parents in the neighborhood, or members of your extended family to reject or doubt your parenting abilities.

This may be difficult to accept, since you have worked hard to develop a reputation as a good and respected parent.

This concern may be legitimate. People seem to have short memories for the good things that parents do and a long memory for issues in which a parent is perceived as failing. Tongues will wag.

Remember that the feelings and ideas of others should not dictate your behavior and actions towards your children.

Often, those who do not have children of their own, or those whose children are young, have the strongest ideas of how to raise children. Their criticisms may drop away as their own children grow up and rebel.

Reactions of others in your family

You may be concerned about your authority. Others in your family may feel that the rebellious child has replaced you as the person in charge. You may be concerned about acting differently towards the rebellious child than to your other children who did not rebel.

It may be helpful to deal with this situation before it actually happens. This can happen if everybody understands that there is no real equality in the family.