Zoë Mount

Recent surveys have found that 70-80% of college graduates are planning on moving home, and that they will stay home for an average of 2 years. So, what are parents to do when the child they thought they had launched successfully, returns? Many parents find themselves caught in a ‘is my child a member of the household or a guest?’ bind, while others find that the two parents have differing ideas about how long the child may stay home and under what conditions. The keys to getting your child to move out successfully are...

As a therapist specializing in helping families and adolescents get from the age of 13 to 18 as smoothly as possible, I spend a lot of time pondering the consequences enforced for undesirable behavior. Two facts are paramount when it comes to consequences-they must be enforced consistently and they must be reasonable. It is also preferable if they are known in advance, but if parents are consistent, that aspect will be taken care of naturally.

The biggest key to having consequences shape behavior is...