Help, what do I do about the “bear” phase

I don't mind the bear phase. I think its sort of cute. The one I find too un-bear-able is the distant phase that teens get. Its so frustrating to have them tense all the time and crabby with everyone. I never noticed how little my sims give a darn about personal space until trying to keep the tense mood off the teens.

I did find that 'ask about phase' helps quite a bit. When the mom and dad started dressing as bears with the son he managed to snap out of his phase by the next day. Also, taking the teens to volunteer work helps with the distant thing, though its not immediate.