Do all sons rebel against their fathers?

[Ed]

I heard this said in a film that I watched recently - that all sons have to rebel against their fathers.

Is this true?

If you are a son, did you rebel against your father

If you are a father, has your son rebelled against you?

[Ed]

If you were a son who rebelled against your father, then what age was it? Or when was it at its height?

If you are a father whose son has rebelled against you, then what age was your son when this happened.

I haven't seen any outward rebellion by my soon to be 7 year old son, other than the everyday small stuff rebellion. Him not wanting to clean up after himself and stuff liek that. Whenever we have a disagreement I always try to explain my point of view to him. For instance, if he doesnt clean up I will explain to him that it is not fair for me to clean up his mess. And I explain to him that if no cleans up, then it will spread germs and it might attract bugs and then bugs attract mice, etc.

Sometime I dont always have the patience to explain it to him at the time, so I will just tell him to do it or he's in trouble. Then when I am a little more relaxed later on, I will go back and explain it to him.

[Tanjlisa]

I'm not a man but I observed my husband with my step-son and I don't think all sons rebel. My husband is 6'2", 215 solid pounds and he likes to box so he was waiting on the day for his eldest son to rebel against him. I told the hubby I didn't think it was going to happen because DJ (my stepson) is pretty mild-mannered and he doesn't have a deathwish. Only an insane person (or someone with gigantic ramrods) would challenge someone who is prepared to take you outside and fight you like a man. I'm not equipped with enough testosterome to understand that even though I'm pretty sure it happens. DJ is 19 now and he hasn't rebelled yet.

[Jenny]

I think in general most kids attempt to rebel against their parents at some point regardless of gender.

[Gary]

Tanjlisa wrote: "My husband is 6'2", 215 solid pounds and he likes to box

DJ (my stepson) is pretty mild-mannered and he doesn't have a deathwish."

Sounds like he's already rebelled :-D rebellion doesn't have to be physical, it can be simply be by being different.

[Tanjlisa]

Gary wrote: "Sounds like he's already rebelled :-D rebellion doesn't have to be physical, it can be simply be by being different.
"

Well then by that definition I'll have to agree with Jen that all kids rebel against their parents...in some way or another.

[Rock]

I never knew my father, so I never actually rebelled against him. But I did rebel against the "idea" of him in many ways. For instnace, I rebelled against the idea of leaving a teenage mother all alone and never providing yoru child with any kind of support.

[Sara]

I don't know about sons, but I'm a daughter and I can say I rebel against my mother.

[Sara]

Sara wrote: "I don't know about sons, but I'm a daughter and I can say I rebel against my mother."

Well, okay, growing up I started rebelling against my father too.

But, anyway, it depends on one's character.

[Alana ~ The Book Pimp]

Well, I can say my 13 year old son is not really rebelling against his father, because he doesn't see him enough to do that. My husband, on the other hand (his step-father), they butt heads ALL the time. There is 'normal' rebellion (not wanting to clean room, do homework, go to school, go outside, do anything that is not computer/videogame related....) ... and I'd say goes toe to toe equally against me and my husband. But "Papa" (what he calls his natural father) gets to be more of a 'buddy' since he is mostly absent.

And I know from both ex husband, and current husband, that they did/do not get along with their fathers. Ex referred to his as 'sperm donor' even though his parents had been married, and he even lived with his father for a while in older (teen) years... and current husband... I'm not sure if I'd call it rebellion, because that shows at least some interest on the part of the father.

Since my mother-in-law passed away (I want to say it was 3 years ago now) we have not seen, heard, received, ANYTHING from his father. No cards for the kids birthdays. No phone calls for Christmas or Easter or Thanksgiving. We've tried to call, and he either won't answer or says he's running out the door. Seems hard to consider it rebellion when he seems to just pretend we don't exist.