Why do Teens Rebel?

It has to do with teenagers feeling like they know what is best for themselves, or feeling invincible, and parents wanting to protect them.

Parents make rules, because they love their children, but the teenagers feel that these rules are “unfair” and “restrictive” even though it may be for their own good. There are a lot of pervs in this world who kidnap,rape, and kill teenagers.

A big excuse my friends used to try on their parents was “well Johnny’s mom lets him do this”, but what teenagers don’t realize till they’re older(I’m 23 now, and thinking back, I was a decent kid, only snuck out a few times,lol) that their parents were more or less right. They don’t realize that each set of parents are different, and have no choice but to raise their kids according to what they feel is right, not what other people feel is right.

There are a lot of teens now a days that realize this though, and the trends are getting better, but there are still a few idiots out there who cry out over the stupidest things. (and a lot of times Emo kids are the ones who feel the most repressed, and don’t realize they’re parents love them).

*sits back and waits for all the emo wannabes to try and flame me(A true Emo kid wouldn’t bother to respond to this, it’d probably be beneath them)

I agree with Katwoman and her theory that it is more about testing limits then rebelling. When you are a small child, you’re main interaction is with your parents, you are learning what is right and wrong and excepting what they say without question. During the teenage years a stage in development occurs classified as separation and then individualization. It’s all a process of defining personality. Erik Erikson defined 8 stages of development..one of them is called identify vs role confusion. During this stage Adolescents Try integrating many roles (child, sibling, student, athlete, worker) into a self-image under role model and peer pressure. It’s a normal part of development. when we are little children we worship our parents, then as teens, cant stand them and think they don’t understand us and then as adults, realize that they knew a lot more then we thought they did..and usually go back to worshiping them haha

I reckon teens should rebel, but about more important things then about not being able to go out or wanting that stupid slutty dress. I mean they should ask questions about their education, their lifestyle and ethics not if they can go to a stupid party or not

Ummm, im not like that! Yes sometimes I am when I think what im doing is right or when my parents are telling me to do things I dont want to do! It also depends on my mood! And by the way, im REALLY close to my mother! But my father, not that much! Cause he never let me do anything with my friends! But mum always changes his mind! Lol

Rebellion is part of growing up. Children yearn to be independant and free. It is this yearning that both fuels rebellion and growth.

My guess is because we treat teens like kids when they are biologically already adults. How many adults can you imagine would put up with the types of restrictions parents impose on teens without also rebelling?

I’m 54 and have 3 grown children. I think that kids may not be rebelling, so much, as they are testing their limits, or rather, the parents limits to see how far they can go and what they can get away with.

I rebelled, though, when I was a teenager, for a whole different reason. My parents didn’t show any love. My brothers and I got anything we wanted, but attention was off limits so my reason, was to try to gain their love and attention.

Teens rebel for many reasons. You may see kids all the time that when they are younger are like perfect little angels and kind of had the whole ‘goodie goodie’ image. Then they hit the teen years and its the complete opposite. I don’t know about everyone else, but hey for me I always got good grades and was respectful and I usually listened but now I’m just sick of being so good and I sometimes find myself ‘rebelling’ from what they tell me. I don’t like help, I think most of the time I can do things on my own. I think it also has to do with how these adults are treating us teens. If they are respectful of us and treating us like humans, not children, then we’re less likely to ‘rebel’ or ‘test our limits’.