No.

The world will break and change them.

Absolutely. Don't believe all of these warning yiu hear about tweens and teens. Of course they'll change some and go through some hormonal changes and challenge some. But, they don't all turn into jerks, you dint have to be a jerk to be a "real teen."

DD18 and DS21 have been pretty darned easy. They're both pleasant to be around and generally want to be good people and do a good. DS is on the spectrum so elementary school was HARD, but once he stabilized things got great. He has no drama because he's not interested in friends or dating and he does great in college. Comes home pretty much every weekend but just studies and does his own nerdy thing. DD is a fun friend to hang out with and only mildly cranky from time to time. So am I so fair enough. Best of all, they both have good college and life plans and will be out of my house next year!

Anonymous wrote:The idea of “bad teens” is all made up. In every case with my friends struggling with teens, they admitted to being part of the problem. Yes, an exception can be a child with real mental health issues.

Let’s not blame teens for bad parenting.

Let's not blame parents for challenging kids. Geez.

Many of us have multiple kids who have all been very different teenagers. I have one who is totally mellow and compliant and sees the world though sunshine-colored glasses. One who is lives life creating a lot of drama and emotional ups and downs. One is in between.
We parented them all the same.

We are in the same boat. He is almost 17y and is great. He is polite, generally does what is asked of him, respectful, and kind. He is not a risk taker and likes to hang out at home making silly tic tocs with his friends.