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Teen Boot Camps

Are you looking for a boot camp? Teen boot camps are one of the most widely known alternatives for kids who are struggling in life. A juvenile boot camp is a resource that many parents pursue to provide structure and discipline for their teen. These structured troubled teen camps do just that. Introduced in the early 1980’s, boot camps have long been an alternative that judges have used in lieu of jail time for offending juveniles. Recently, in the last ten years, boot camps have become more known for the behavior modification of teens and have been featured on many different television talk shows. Parents, without the help of the state, send their teen to private boot camps to change their behavior. The results of how well these programs work are inconclusive.

Benefits:
Teen boot camps are highly structured programs. These programs are among the most structured and can therefore handle just about the worst out of control teen. Boot camps often use “scare tactics” to force change on participants who in most cases eventually break to these tactics. If you have a teen who is so physically out of control that you can’t deal with him/her, then a boot camp might be a solution. Many Boarding Schools, Residential Programs, and wilderness programs will not take a teen that is physically violent. Boot camps will be more likely to take teens exhibiting violent tendencies as their ability to control teens is much greater then in other types of programs.

Participants usually spend most of their time outdoors which is typically the opposite of today’s teens. Teens today tend to spend most of their time watching television or playing video games. Taking a teen who is lazy and used to spending their days inside and sending them to a boot camp where they are primarily outside, could be beneficial because being outside is often therapeutic in and of itself. Also, many boot camps focus primarily on physical exercise and work which could help teens to get into shape physically.

Downsides:
There are downsides to boot camps. Often participants are threatened physically if they chose not to conform or obey. Weak teens will easily conform while in sight of program personnel yet when not being watched, their attitude remains the same. Also, some teens that have stronger personalities will constantly clash with staff at these programs and will not conform. These teens naturally tend to fight against those who exert authority over them. With these types of teens, boot camps are often very damaging as the environment continually reinforces in their minds that all authority is negative.