What does tough love mean for a rebellious child?
For a rebellious child, tough love means taking steps and exercising firm discipline rather than continuously feeding, paying, or rescuing him from tight places. Parents must deal with the rebellion instead of enabling it. In Deuteronomy, parents brought such a son to the elders, and Israel's law went as far as stoning him to remove evil.
Les explains that tough love, as described in a book titled Tough Love by Dobson, means taking steps with a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his parents' voice even after being chastened. You cannot just keep feeding him, paying him, and helping him out of tight places; you have to deal with it. In Israel's law, the father and mother laid hold of him, brought him to the elders at the city gate, and all the men of the city stoned him to death, putting away evil from among them.