I need some discipline advice for a teenager.?

I came home from work today and the garage smelled of chemically smoke. My 14 yo son had lit one of his old school books on fire. He admitted it pretty quickly and also later admitted that he knew while he was doing it that it was wrong. He thought because it was raining out and there was a puddle close by that it wasn't a big deal. He needs punished but he's at an age where I don't want him to start lying to me (more than he does already).I need some discipline advice for a teenager.?
make him do some community service for a familt whos house has burned down or take him to the hospital and let him meet some burn victims so he can see were playing like that will leadI need some discipline advice for a teenager.?
Just explain to him that what he did wasn't safe and you are angry because you care about his safety and you love him. Explain to him that if you can't trust him to not get into trouble when he is home alone then how will you be able to trust him when he wants to go out, or when he wants to drive? However, he was honest with you, so don't punish him this time. But tell him that so he knows being honest does pay off. However he should also know that just because he admits something doesn't mean hes off the hook. Murders admit to illing someone but still go to jail, right? The next time he does something wrong, because being a teenage boy, he will do something wrong again, take away his cell phone, computer, PS2 or something else that he enjoys doing.
You have to let your son know that you really do appreciate him telling the truth to you. Your son knows its wrong, and he admitted it, what do you need to punish him for?? Besides, its already too late to punish him. If you wanted to do something, you should have done it right then and there. Leave it alone this time. Obviously he felt comfortable enough to tell you the truth about this, dont let him lose your trust. Punish him when he steals something, or sets someones house on fire.
Make him clean the garage.
break out the belt. one whooping I got was for smoking they were not as upset for the smoking, but where I was doing it at. in our haybarn. luckily the only thing that burned was my bottom out there
I firmly believe is a good old A** woopen, or when I was a teen when I didnt get that my mother would make me pull all the furniture to the center of the house and wipe down all the wall from top to bottom why I thought about what I had done, that is always fun punishment.... Also with that, the more he is bad, the cleaner your walls are..
talk to him, not at him. ask why he did it, treat it like ?s to a science lab. then tell him it was not the best idea hes had and if he wants to burn stuff he needs permission. you can even set up a fire pit that wont cause to much damage. Now for the rough part: the punishment. ask him what he thinks it should be and tell him what you think it should be (no friends over for the weekend and has to clean out the gatage) nothing horrible but nothing he'll want to do next weekend. Whatver you do keep your cool. the more you yell the more hes going to lie b/c being screamed at is pretty scary. just keep it open and let him talk, it could just have been his hypocampus being underdeveloped and not thinking things through.
i would punish him.......... by the way that chemical smoke, was it crack you were smelling?
ground him but only for like 2 days its a big deal but if you dicipline him alot it will encourage lying not discourage it.
Eh, not that bad, a kid lit his desk on fire in my class a few days ago. Hes the same age as your son. You should let what he did slide.
Yeah he shouldn't have done it.. but is it that big of a deal?





If the book was worth something, then make him pay for it.


If it was something he was never gonna use again.. then don't bother.





Did he light it in the garage? If he did... Talk to him about it and make him clean any mess that he made from it up.





If he did it outside, then make sure he didn't burn any grass or anything of importance.





What was he going to do... Let the house burn down???








Oh and whatever you do... DO NOT FLIP OUT.


Teenagers want to do things on their own.


I know that if my mom flipped out if i did something like that, I'd do it again just because of the fact that I'm not aloud.





Would you rather him be doing this, or out smoking weed/drinking. Appreciate the fact that he was at home.
Many kids...boys in particular NEED to do things like this. It seems odd to moms and teachers, but boys are tactile and it's good for him to do stuff he just can't explain. Keep an eye on him to make sure the fire was only about curiosity and not about anger and be glad that he wasn't lighting a cat on fire.





I do believe that if you make too big of a deal out of this, he will continue with ';bad'; behavior, but get better at not getting caught and only lie if caught.





Good Luck.
Explain why you are punishing him, and tell him that you were worried for his safety. Then ground him.
BEAT HIS @$$!
i would approach him like: because you told me the truth, i am going to cut the punishment...





praise him for being honest, but still punish him for lighting stuff on fire...explain to him why you dont light random fires and maybe ground him for a weekend
thats good that he knows it was wrong but you dont want to punish him too much or he'll get mad at you. maybe you could have him do extra chores or something. that way you can be sure that he won't do it again, and also it will be helpful to you if he helps you with the chores. the main thing is that the punishment isnt too harsh.
As a teenager growing up, I found that having my personal belongings that meant something to me, be taken away as a punishment for an extended period of time, like my bike, radio, etc, had more of an impact than anything else. And I don't even need to tell you the importance of explaining to him, why it's serious to not set fires in the house.
Make him clean the whole garage or do some yard work. He's going to lie regardless, so you might as well punish him anyway. Don't let him think he's going to get away with doing stupid stuff...and tell him he will get caught when he does something wrong and if it's not by you, it could be the law and then he's going to have a real price to pay.
Take something that he likes, if you like the computer take it away for a day or two. 14 is not to young for punishment.
let that slide