Let them do whatever they want. Make excuses for them."Not MY kid" and then when they get in big trouble, blame as many others as possible.Convince themselves they are good parents when they give in to their kids why it makes the kiddies happy! Yeah,right.Keep them away from My kids.

The second you "give in" the behavior becomes ingrained and gets worse, not better. It's the whole addage of "give an inch and they take a mile." There are some behaviors that are never ok in my presence, no matter how old or young someone is, and I stick to that religiously. Same thing goes for my behavior. If it's not ok for someone else to do to me or around me, it's not ok for me. That "double standard" thing is as bad as letting it slide for being a "phase."

Somewhere along the line, all children experience some rough patch to a certain extent. But If they were disciplined properly in the first place and they had good foundations, then this is less likely to occur. That means the only time they might experience a phase is if they are hanging around bad influences. Which means it is not a phase at all, but behaviour which has been picked up. So the real problem is trying to find the cause of their behaviour. And you can only do that not with force and punishment, but by establishing a good relationship with your child where you encourage them to tell you things. Discipline only works if they directly do something bad to you or in front of you or as a child. But when they are in adolescents, the worst thing you can do is overreact if they tell you something. That only teaches them if they confide in you, they will get into trouble. That is the last thing you want to teach them because them confiding in you will ultimately allow you to take the right course of action rather then them not telling you anything at all. At the same time, parents who just say 'oh they are just going through a phase' are probably the really weak willed sort who spoil their children and funny enough, are the ones who believe we should reason with our children instead of disciplining them. Some parents are actually afraid of their children not loving them anymore, that's why they are so afraid of disciplining them.

A parent should never give in. . .you raise the kid or the kid raises you. . .but equally stupid is the idea that 'phases' don't exist and all of them are disasters-lurking-behind-storm-clouds. . .

Bad decision, period. This is very "fashionable" nowadays with liberal minded parents. Fooey!! I think its just laziness more than anything when parents decide to ignore for example the kid wearing black clothes and poking holes in their bodies all over the place. Or the child that is playing the "gay role" at 14 years old like I hear about from my daughter who is in 9th grade!! There is something going on there and you better know what it is. These kids are crying out for help, not apathy!

Ain't happening. My nephews have discovered that nothing flys with Uncle Mike. If nothing flys with the nephews, imagine what I'll be like with kids of my own. (numbah sets aside money for the therapy bills)

Give in once and you'll be doing it over and over again. Bad idea.