11 Things To Remember While Raising Teens
- Updated on 08 Mar 2022
- Parents Corner
- Mautushi Paul
Introduction
How do you know if raising teens is stressful? When raising teens, you should feel like everything keeps changing. These changes are both physical and mental.
According to breakthrough studies, raising teens is very much like raising toddlers. The difference is that raising teens means they will be around for the next twenty years! After all of your hard work, things begin to settle down after high school graduation; however, this only lasts until their first child shows up on the doorstep.
In raising teens, there are several things to remember. These include: raising teens is different from raising toddlers and raising young children, raising teenagers does not have to be stressful, and all parents need support raising teens.
11 things to consider while raising teens
Here are the top 10 things to remember while raising teens.
1) Raising teens is different from raising toddlers and raising young children
One primary difference between raising teens and raising younger kids is that raising teenagers is not as strict. They can make their own decisions but still need a lot of guidance from parents. It’s a bit like having a best friend living in your home.
2) Raising teenagers doesn’t have to be stressful
Many teens who experience stress come from homes with no structure or feel the rules imposed on them are unreasonable. Parents need to sit down with their children and establish household guidelines together in raising teens. This will set boundaries without being too restrictive while still allowing for appropriate freedoms that most teens want anyway. By establishing procedures early on, raising teenagers with a list of rules will make the teen years, raising teens easier.
3) Raising teenagers is about teaching life lessons
To raise teens successfully, parents must teach their kids important life lessons, such as how to handle money and how to manage a checking account. Parents should also plan activities that would allow them to talk more in-depth about various issues that might come up when raising teens through the teenage years. Discussing these issues early on is very important in raising teens because it is during this time that they are exploring ideas and testing limits by asking seemingly endless questions. By brainstorming together, parents can help raise well-rounded children who will do well in school and have good relationships with friends.
4) Respect their Boundaries
Raising teens is a stage of raising children that parents often have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, they are old enough to take care of themselves and start making their own decisions. However, on the other hand, parents may feel a strong need to keep an eye on their teenagers who might be going through complex changes in their bodies and emotions.
5) Be a Good Role Model
Parents should try to be good role models for their children by being responsible and doing what is right. This will help teens learn how to behave in the future when they are raising children of their own.
6) Let Them Fail
It’s common for parents to want to protect their teens from feeling hurt or disappointed, but raising teenagers is difficult. Teens who feel like they always have protection may never learn how to problem solve on their own or deal with difficult situations. Parents should instead let them fail or struggle so that they can gain the life skills and motivation needed to succeed in the future.
7) Communicate Openly and Frequently With Teenagers
Have honest talks about difficult topics, such as sex, drugs, and alcohol. Although these conversations could be challenging, keeping the lines of communication open can make raising teenagers much easier for parents
8) Use Positive Reinforcement—Not Punishment
When raising teenagers, punishment should only be used when necessary. Instead of punishing teens for their mistakes, parents should instead offer praise or rewards when they do something positive.
9) Don’t Try to Force Personal Conformity
Individuals will often struggle with conformity during their teenage years. Parents shouldn’t force this upon them because it can lead to rebellious behaviour. Instead, parents should focus on raising teens to be open-minded and accept everyone’s differences.
10) Offer as Much Independence as the Teenager is Capable of Handling
Teens need as much independence as they can handle responsibly — yet, children lack the judgment needed to make good decisions at this point in their lives. To help them reach this level of understanding, parents need to offer their children a safe distance between themselves and their children to explore and see what it means to be independent.
11) Establish Clear Rules on Behavior
Parents should also establish clear rules of behaviour that their children must follow and enforce them with consequences. Parents who let their kids get away with undesirable behaviours often end up raising self-centred children, entitled, dishonest and manipulative. This would make the child’s future harder and make it more difficult for the parents to discipline their children when they become teenagers.
Conclusion
While them might be difficult, it is essential to remember that raising a teen is not impossible. Parenting during these early years of adulthood enables parents to build robust foundations for their children’s future success.
It has been said that raising teenagers can be quite a challenge so you must follow these tips for growing teens. Teenagers are in the process of establishing their independence and learning who they are outside of being a child with parents. Parents should work to empower their children while raising them and establish clear roles for themselves as authority figures to reduce conflicts between themselves and their children.
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10 Strong Yet Smooth House Rules For Teenagers all parents should impose
