Why should parents refrain from finding fault with their teenagers in public? the best way to ride out the storms of adolescence is to appease teens as much as possible as being critical will only create more problems. parents tend to judge teen behavior incorrectly, so they run a higher risk of being critical without a legitimate reason. recent research has found that adolescents who suffer public criticism engage in higher levels of delinquency than their peers. teens tend to believe that they are the focus of everyone else's attention and concern, so critical remarks in public can be mortifying?