If, both as a part of your chinuch and by personal example, you teach them by example that it's wise to consult others when confronted by thorny problems, then they will have an excellent chance to live properly and successfully. Your good relationship with them will remain intact, since they've learned that consulting others, including parents, makes good sense. The idea that people pass through many stages of life is important to us in understanding yet another potential cause of disciplinary problems. In vain do zealous mothers toil to accustom their children to matters that, by virtue of their age, should not yet become issues. In short, you must know when and when not to insist on certain behavior.
Many parents rightly impose a curfew on their children.
For example, his friends may not have curfews. Or perhaps they smoke, etc. Likewise, your child may correctly feel that the time has arrived for him to make judgments on matters that were previously a parental prerogative, bedtime, eating habits, etc. Your insistence on maintaining complete control over such questions can cause recurrent, bitter conflict. It follows, therefore, that if you constantly find yourself battling with him over the same matter over a long period of time, then it may be a sign that your child is either not yet ready to shoulder certain responsibilities or is already past the stage when such control is appropriate.