Why I was angry...

This is MY opinion so take it for what it's worth to you...

Your kid is angry towards you because you aren't giving him what he needs to be a man.

Raising a kid is not about doing things for him, it's about making sure he can do it for himself. Well, parents today let their kids raise themselves. Parents give the kid shelter and food... but no guidance, no life lessons, no direction on how to become a real man.

Me? My parents gave me no guidance so I didn't learn from others about life, and everything important was done for me so I also didn't learn from experience. Life issues were not talked about, no lessons passed down to me. I didn't hear what I needed to hear at 17, I heard what made me happy (which eventually made me mad). Does your kid have real responsibilities as a man, is he being raised to be a man, or is he just responsible for doing homework (teachers raising him) and cleaning his room?

Did that 17 year old "Indian" go out with the elder males and learn things about how to be a warrior? Or did that "Indian" stay in his teepee reading tree bark and washing clothes while other tribes went out hunting, tracking and fighting?

I had nowhere to release my energy and that came out as anger and frustration or held in with depression. I was motivated as hell but had no idea which direction to go, or what to do with it.

I don't for a second believe that anger is "just normal" part of a teenager growing up. Parents say that shit because they don't want responsibility for their f'd up kids. It's because that teenager didn't get something from his elders... even something he needed years earlier at 9 or 10. Any teenager who is "LOST" had a bad upbringing. Parents who refuse to actually raise their kids or give them too much undeserved self esteem wonder why the kid ends up moving back home when they turn 25 or 30 or 40, because real life kicked them in the ass and showed them that they are NOT the center of the world. Or they got fired because real life isn't about studying and cleaning. Or they get divorced or leave their kids because they weren't taught how to respect women or sex. So they learn about women from friends and music videos, and sex by experience with an illegitimate kid or an std.

Maybe you got offended by reading this reply. If you did then we probably have some things in common. You asked for my advice. Does you son ask you for advice? Should I have told you what you wanted to hear to make you feel good, or should I have given my honest constructive opinion? Do you tell your son what he wants to hear or or do you give him constructive guidance on how to become and act like a man? Do you raise your kid to be a kid, or do you raise your kid to be a man? Will he be prepared to be a man when he turns 18?