Q&A: Why Do Some Teens Wander from the Path?

Q.  Why do so many children who have a good, well-rounded spiritual background seemingly wander in their spiritual lives during their teens?

A.  From the age of twelve on, children are coming to grips with karma.  The first cycle around the clock from twelve back to twelve, thirteen positions of the clock, is the development of the child.  The second cycle around the child has to learn the development of himself.  A child is coming to grips with karmic cycles‑-thirteen on the one, fourteen on the two, and fifteen on the three.  That’s when the ego really comes into play.  And sixteen years old on the four o’clock line‑-that is the age of rebellion.

Now if you know that your child is going to encounter the energies of his past karma on the cycles of the clock, you can be praying ahead of time.  You can point these things out to your son or daughter.  You can say, “Now this is a test.  Are you going to give into this energy, or are you going to sit down and pray to God to help you?” If you have just contacted this work, you have teenagers, they’re not interested, they don’t think it makes any sense, they’re not willing to pray, they don’t understand karma, you simply have to pray for them until the Spirit moves within them.  Really, by the time your child is twelve, there’s not too much more you can do.  The rudder of the ship is set.  You’ve had your time.  You’ve had the first twelve years, and what you haven’t been able to do to that point, you can’t really expect to change because the child is now coming of age in his karma.

You can guide the child.  Children need strong parents in their teens, in the world as it is today‑-very strong.  But then again, you can’t overcome your child’s problems with force, with suppression.  You’ve gone beyond the age of spankings.  Maybe you can withhold the car or money or perhaps control by taking away this or that privilege.  But ultimately, the child is reaching the age of reason where he has to figure these things out for himself.  You can’t do any more than sit down and explain the law and appeal to the soul and the Christ and then pray daily, knowing that sometime, somewhere that soul is going to respond.  A great action is to use the decrees of Astrea to encircle the cause and core of the karma that is bringing on this deviation from truth.

I think another thing that causes this deviation is seeing the poor example of parents themselves who don’t follow what they teach or they preach; or seeing the poor examples in government or in the churches; or being taught a religion that doesn’t make sense and then finding out with the age of reason that they simply can’t accept the dogmatism and the doctrine that leads nowhere.  So there are many reasons for this difficulty that arises in the teens.  Above all you need compassion and you need vigilance with your child.  You have to pray without ceasing. It’s a full time responsibility.

Taken from the Q&A section of the lecture “What it Means to be A Parent” by Elizabeth Clare Prophet
Album: Family Designs for the Golden Age <Get the Album on TSL’s Store!>
Date: June 16, 1974