Boot Camps & Boarding Schools

What to do with a Troubled Teen?

Families struggling to pay their bills will often have both parents working full time to help provide. This creates a void in the home. The days of stay at home mom and a working dad are for the most part no longer in existence. Out of necessity many teens and pre-teens are left alone before and after school. This lack of supervision can lead to children getting into trouble and hanging with the wrong type of friends. Negative teen behavior can wreak havoc on a family. When the troubled teen begins to do poorly in school, or get kicked out of school the parents have to make some hard choices.

What can be done with a truly defiant teenager?

With both parents working, families are forced to consider sending their teen away from home. In the past boot camps for troubled teens were easy to find, and relatively inexpensive. Some of these camps were loosely, or even totally, unregulated. Many have been shut down leaving parents with fewer placement options to consider. There are still several boarding schools for troubled teens in existence. The cost difference between a boot camp for troubled teens and a boarding school for troubled teens is significant. Boarding schools can occasionally be found for under $4,000 per month but the majority of boarding schools for troubled teens will be priced above $6,000 per month. Boot camps for troubled teens were able to operate for less because they were Christian based, and structured differently than a troubled teen boarding school.

Boot Camps are Gone?

With a shortage of troubled boy schools and schools for troubled teen girls, parents are often not sure what their options are. The biggest hurdle most parents face is the financial burden of placing their teen out of the home. Some teen boot camps and troubled teen boarding schools have some type of financing. Most of the financing options are difficult for the average person to afford. Even the least expensive school can run in the neighborhood of $7,000 to $8,000 for the first month with monthly teen program tuition of $3,500 and up. If the teen boarding school includes some type of therapeutic component the cost will be significantly more. The value of therapy in a teen boot camp or troubled teen boarding school may be less helpful than some people choose to believe. The reasons therapy may not be helpful in a restrictive environment are many.

Therapy for Troubled Teens

Teen Boot Camp Therapy is a difficult because it takes a willing participant to be effective. Since most of the troubled teens in teen boot camps are not there willingly, they usually don't want any type of help, other than to get out of the boot camp or boarding school. Some troubled teens will go through the motions, and act like they are being helped in order to gain favor of the program staff. They believe this might help them get out early. The problem with this type of behavior is the troubled teen doesn't really deal with the issues at the core of their negative behavior.