Age of consent

What helps moderate this risk for doing hurt is for parents to accept that their child has now left the age of command (when he or she believed obedience was largely unquestioned and automatic) and entered the age of consent (when he or she now believes that authority can be questioned and obedience is a matter of choice). Now parents must often work through some degree of resistance (delay, complaint, argument, initial refusal) to get the cooperation they want. Resistance is both an attempt at independence and at saving face. "Before you get your way with me, fll try to get some of my way with you. If I don t, at least I ll get to have my say."... 

There is growing consensus in the developmental literature that adolescents who have reached the age of 13 years have the same cognitive capacity as adults to provide consent for treatment (Scherer Reppucci, 1988 Shields Johnson, 1992). However, states differ regarding the age of consent for mental health treatment. If a troubled 13-year-old voluntarily seeks expanded school mental health services without parental consent (perhaps the parent is unavailable, has refused services, or the adolescent feels he would be in danger, if he tells his parent that he is seeking services), the law in many states requires that services be denied (Shields Johnson, 1992). 

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