Every family has headaches and heartaches. Because human depravity runs deep, it is impossible to rear our children from infancy to independence without encountering times that call for straight talk and tough love. While we love our children no matter what, parents cannot escape those occasions when wills clash, rebellion reaches an impasse, and things get downright impossible. For any number of reasons, some adolescents and young adults who still live at home reach a place where they simply refuse to obey their parents. All attempts to restore harmony prove futile. And the result? Harsh words and ugly reactions as parents stand their ground, and sons and daughters react in stubborn defiance, refusing to back down. We pray, but nothing changes. We reason with our children, but it’s a dead-end street. We apply different measures of discipline, but things only get worse. And the realization that our other children are being neglected — or at least negatively influenced — as we spend all our energy dealing with the rebel compounds the struggle. This is when the fun stops for parents.

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