Alternative boarding school offering troubled teens programs and boot camps providing teenage help and parenting advice and tips.

Parenting violent teens is no easy matter. Many parents have already become victims of crimes where the aggressors are their own teens who cannot control their anger issues. It is never easy to deal with the thought that your teen hurts you or other people around them. It's even harder when all your efforts to help your teen gets violently rebuffed.

There are different ways to help educate parents on how to deal with violent teenagers, but the most important thing to consider here is that most of the time, changing the way parents think and act will be the catalyst that teens need to manage their own anger.

What exactly can parents do to help their teens control their response towards anger? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Acquaint your teen with the emotion called "anger" - Feeling anger is a normal reaction towards emotionally frustrating situations. Teens must understand that this is a normal emotion to feel, but what matters is how they express it or react to it. It's okay to be angry, but punching a hole in the wall is another thing altogether. It's helpful for parents to sit down and talk with their teens when emotions aren't running high anymore, and to help them identify triggers to their aggression. When teens recognize the triggers and the physical responses they have to these triggers, it may be easier for them to consciously avoid letting their feelings of anger escalate. It would also help to teach your teen techniques on how to calm down.

2. Self-assessment - Many studies show that if young people exhibit violence when they are angry, it's possible that they too are exposed or are victims of violence. Whether you are an authority figure at home or in school, it's never right to show aggression as an expression of anger or frustration. If you keep firearm/s at home, it's also good to know that research shows guns kept at home are more likely to be used against family members than in self-defense against intruders. Make an honest assessment or a thorough inquiry on whether your child is being exposed to violence at home or at school.

3. Solve problems together - Too often, parents who are overprotective of their children solve their children's problems for them. The intent behind this may not be bad, but it prevents children from learning how to solve problems, which is an important life skill. Learning how to solve problems cultivate creativity as well as patience in the face of adversity and frustrations. It's good for parents to sit down with their teens and strategize with them. Listen to their ideas and help improve on these. Encourage young people to face problems, assess situations, and face possible consequences for the decisions they make.

4. Ask for help - Many parents have the urge to do what's called "helicopter parenting". With their parents constantly looking over their shoulders, teens will not grow up and flourish into well-adjusted adults. You cannot always watch them, and it's not healthy to always watch them. However, you can enlist the help of other people to raise awareness. For example, parents cannot watch their teens 24/7 to make sure that they don't get involved in guns and gangs. In the eyes of young people, guns are a symbol of power and authority. However, getting involved with other parents in school, teachers, and community leaders in teaching young people the dangers of getting involved in guns and gangs can make a difference.

There are many youth programs that know the value of family and community in shaping the values system of teens. The old saying "it takes a village to raise a child" has a lot of truth in it because it does take many socializing agents to help people form their identity.

One example of a system that helps violent teens is Multisystemic Therapy. In programs that use multisystemic therapy, therapists come to live with families of aggressive teens (or are available on call 24/7). The therapists work first with the parents/guardians rather than focus immediately on the violent teens. Parents are taught how they can regain the authority in their home, how they can enforce the right kind of discipline, and how they can identify and change unhelpful family patterns.

With MST, teens get the benefit of still being home with their families in order to strengthen family ties. For teens that get into trouble with the law because of their aggressive behavior, this is better than go to juvenile detention centers. The great thing about MST is that it focuses on keeping families intact.

There are also therapeutic boarding schools which aim to provide a safe environment for troubled teens in order for them get therapy.