Teenage runaway is both a traumatic and stressful
experience to the parents and family. Parents have to
cope up with the fact that their teenager has run away.
There is a difference between a teenager missing and a
teenager who has runaway. Primarily we have to
understand that the runaway child has left home
willingly, usually to avoid certain situations, or to
gain something. There can be several motivations for a
runaway teenager.
Here are some:
- To avoid something like an emotional experience or
fear of consequence to a certain situation in future.
- To escape any ongoing unpleasant or rather painful
experience.
- To overcome the loss of relationships or
friendships that is considered important by the
teenager.
- To seek the company of people whom they like most.
- To bring a change or stop what they are doing.
We have observed some of the factors which act as
motivators for the teenager to leave the home. To
prevent the child from getting into the above-discussed
situations, parents are advised to take certain
preventive measures they can be as follows.
- Parents are advised to never use a negative
approach in disciplining the teenager.
- When the parent finds the teenager is raising
voice or yelling he/she should not react in the same
manner, shouting or yelling back at the teenager makes
situation worsen.
- Maintain eye contact and stay calm, when the
teenager is angry or is in a rage.
- Parents should respect the teenager’s opinions; he
should not be interrupted while he speaks.
- It is very important to take turns when both the
parents need to talk to the teenager never shout or
raise both equally at the teenager give him a chance
to speak as much as both parents speak
- it is important to keep in mind the fact that
there are a brief list of suggestions that can reduce
the risk of runaway, but get professional advice from
a medical expert if the teenager is demanding
threatening or acting as if they should be allowed to
do what ever they want.
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