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

If you're considering enrolling a troubled son or daughter in one of the various juvenile boot camps or long-term therapeutic programs out there in an effort to help them get their life on track to a brighter future, you're probably already aware that you have a fairly wide range of options at your disposal. With so many programs out there promising to offer the help your teen needs to break away from harmful habits, it can be difficult figuring out which one is the right one for your child and your family. However, when looking through the military boarding schools and camp-style programs that are available to you, there are definitely some things to keep in mind.

The first installment of this series examined Erikson's (1963) psychosocial theory, which asserts that, throughout the life span, individuals must successfully master specific developmental tasks and stages in order to possess the ability to live in harmony with society and create and maintain healthy relationships. Understanding developmental tasks and stages can provide insight as to underlying factors that could contribute to core pathologies and maladaptive coping and defense mechanisms exhibited by troubled teens; these mechanisms may manifest in behaviors that place the adolescent at odds with society and/or their family system (Newman & Newman, 2003).

As anyone who has gone through the difficult experience of parenting a troubled teen can tell you, sometimes being a loving, carrying, and attentive mother or father figure just isn't enough to deal with the situation. That is where professionals and the programs they run come into play. If you have put much time into researching the options that are available to you as the parent of a teenager in trouble, it's likely that you've hear horror stories about juvenile boot camps and similar programs that do more harm for kids then good. The truth is that while there are programs out there focused on helping kids who need to get back on the right path, there are also military boarding schools and camps that should be avoided at all costs. Luckily, for those that take the time to put in the research needed to weed out the good from the bad, you should be able to find a reputable program that can help turn your son or daughter's life around.

According to Erikson's (1963) psychosocial theory, individuals must successfully master specific developmental tasks and progress through specific stages in order to be able to achieve a harmonious relationship with their community/society and in order to maintain healthy relationships in their life.