Climate Change in the Home

So much has been written about global warming and climate change and what it is doing to our planet that I thought I would use this metaphor to describe what life is like in my home.

I have a 15 year old who is, like many of his generation, challenging many of the 'natural laws' of the home that I grew up with. He has access to information and entertainment 24/7 and this has certainly contributed to his feeling of self empowerment. Gone are the days of "Can I go out?". It is now - "I'm going out and I don't really care what you think." Going to school is a tug of war that leaves me battle warn, and the lifestyle choices are very worrisome due the frequency and the belief that this is just normal.

This is not my first time out with the parenting of a teenager. I also have a 25 year old and I have to say that it is very different now. I have engulfed myself in research. I know that these kids are showing up with some fascinating quirks of nature - high intelligence with matching learning disabilities, need to be in a collective and with almost a group mind, while all the time touting their beliefs in independence. There is also a pecular anger seeping under their apparent indifference to life.

All these quirks have shown up in ways that are contributing to the erosion of my family life. Now I grew up in the time of Leave It to Beaver, but I have to admit that this extreme slide down the other end of the scale is very daunting. Why climate change as a metaphor - well it seems to me that many of the influences that have created this situation in my home come from a combination of outside influences I have little control over, as well as behaviours and approaches we were totally oblivious to as to the future impact as we were raising these children. I feel overwhelmed at times as everywhere I turn there is another parent talking about the growing epidemic of no respect, entitled mindset, and total defiance of rules and any form of 'authority'.

Is this just a phase this generation is going through, or is it something, like climate change, that is much more significant in this time and place? Can this metaphor of climate change help us find new approaches to dealing with this painful experience as a parent?Views are welcome