He's Not Lazy: Empowering Your Son to Believe In Himself

more acutely than when he was younger. In just a few years’ time he will have a more secure sense of himself, one that incorporates all the values you raised him with but that is also uniquely him. Don’t fear—all of those values you instilled in him are still knocking around in there.

Thompson, by eighth grade 50 percent of kids still make decisions of moral consequence based on whether they will lead to punishment.

there will be numerous times when he is not thinking about the consequences of his behavior

CONCENTRATION.

HE IS GOING TO ACT OUT HIS AMBIVALENCE ABOUT GROWING UP MOSTLY AT HOME. That is where he will act lazy, irresponsible, and demanding. I am not telling you to just keep quiet and take it, but do not make the mistake of believing he will never grow up, or get too frustrated when none of your actions seem to help.

Most likely, your son is going to hedge his bets and hope he gets away with it. Even if he’s busted for every third offense, he is still ahead.

difficult

So teenagers experiment. As they learn new things, meet new people, and form new opinions, they try on different identities. Adolescence is one of the few times this type of experimentation is possible. The new lax bro swagger your young adolescent takes everywhere he goes is an attempt to re-create himself in an image he hopes others will buy in t

“good boy.”