Parenting teenagers: When to choose a conflict — and when to let it go

Everything from the clothes your children wear to the state of their bedroom can bother you but there is a time to get tough and there's a time to look the other way the experts tell Helen O'Callaghan.

Particularly for teens, their room is “their little domain”, but if really bothering you, you might negotiate around doing “a big clean” once a month, says psychotherapist and relationship counsellor Bernadette Ryan. Picture: Alamy/PA

In the tricky terrain of parenting, are there certain battles — such as about clothes or hairstyle or our children’s friends or the state of their room — that are just not worth fighting?

In the fight-or-not-to-fight dilemma, context is everything, say experts.