Parenting Tips: Mastering the Teen Years
Parenting Tips: Mastering the Teen Years
There doesn't seem to be an instruction booklet or even an
owner's manual. Most of the teen-agers I work with feel they are sort of making it up as they go along. So there are lots of questions that go unanswered.
Who am I?
Who will I be?
Who will I model myself after?
There don't seem to be many useful choices, and it gets frustrating and confusing sometimes.
Then there is this whole issue of self-esteem. How are teenagers (or adults for that matter) supposed to feel good about themselves when the standard held out to them is unrealistic perfection.
What I believe happens is that kids experience the wide gulf between "TV reality" and "real reality," and feel pretty inadequate.
Parenting an adolescent can also be considered an art, a difficult one at times.
Many intelligent, successful parents are rendered completely stuck and impotent when it comes to dealing with their 16 year-old.
As one parent said to me, "I can get the governor to listen to me, but I can't get my daughter to make her bed."
16 going on 26 and 16 going on 6
Most 16-year-olds I have known are simply 16 going on 26 and 16 going on 6, all at the same time.
Parents struggle with which one they are dealing with at a given moment: the 6-year-old, the 16-year-old or the 26-year- old. It is important to remember they are dealing with a rapidly changing pattern.
Many people are now familiar with the term "dysfunctional families." I'm not convinced that this is always a useful or helpful term.. Many families I work with are simply "stuck" - stuck on certain issues or developmental stages.
Remember the last time you got your car stuck in the mud or sand? The harder you tried to get out, the more you spun your wheels and got stuck deeper ands deeper.
I think families sometimes work this way, too. Good counseling is simply helping a family get "unstuck" by enhancing existing strengths and developing new ones, to get them back on the road and on their way.
It can be as simple as that.
Visit ParentingYourTeenager.com for tips and tools for thriving during the teen years. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 5 day e-program on The Top 5 Things to Never Say to Your Teenager, from parenting coach and expert Jeff Herring. Child support collections Child support order Gloria Harrison Slimming Postpartum - Get Slim After Childbirth Review Particular Burberry Outlet Kids Coats Regard To The Great Credibility Singulair 10 mg Helps Control Asthma in Adults and Children Great Ways for Kids to Make Money throughout the Year The Easy Weight Loss for Teens How to Keep Your Teenager Safe While Driving Baby Stroller Features For Kids. What can Be Expected An eighteen years generation leap in Sahara One's MATA KI CHOWKI! Tips to Produce a Woodcraft Toy Gun for Kids How To Cope When Your Children Emigrate Parents - The Positives Of Your Child Making Decisions