Joanna Fortune: Our teenage daughter is breaking all the rules 

Is she setting a bad example for her siblings?

One of the most challenging stages of our parenting journey is negotiating the teenage years. Picture: iStock

Our 15-year-old is refusing to listen to us. We had clear ground rules about homework, phone use, and lights out at night but she is ignoring them all. We’ve tried to reason with her but she shrugs and says all her friends can do what they like. She is the eldest of three, and I’m worried about the bad example she is giving to her siblings.

One of the most challenging stages of our parenting journey is negotiating the teenage years. This is just as hard on our teenagers as it is on parents and it might be helpful to hold this in mind. I always think of this stage of development as a second bite of the developmental apple because in toddlerhood it’s our task to develop boundaries and set limits for our children. It’s their task to push against those boundaries and seek to defy the limits. The toddler stage can be challenging but it is also developmentally normal.