It does not mean that you have done it all wrong in the past. It is simply a time to reassess your roles as parents in your children's lives. Becoming teenagers is wrought with the incredible complication of hormonal change. Their young bodies are steeped in hormones causing physical changes that could be overwhelming by themselves alone, not to mention the considerable psychological adjustments that are taking place. It is a period of intense self absorption and selfishness.
Adolescence is a time when the search for identity becomes a more separate and independent endeavor.
The need for parental attachment does not disappear, it merely changes. Adolescents are seeking out the company of peers, and doing the hard work of trying to find a place for themselves in the world, socially and eventually economically. These are big pressures, and they are intuitively aware of the upcoming future prospect of having to survive on their own away from the family. But do not let your fears for his future well-being cloud your view of him. Often parents project negative images of their children based upon their fears of the transition that lies ahead, without taking into account that the teenager is still in development for this launching.