When you’re the parent of a teenager, there is no parenting manual to help you get to the root of making them happy, understanding what they need, and helping them through these most difficult of years.
However, parenting a teenager is still something that people want to have more information about, even if it is a tricky subject to cover. That’s why we’ve put together some useful parenting tips. These will help you understand your teenager more.
They should allow you to have a happy, healthy home life together despite the raging hormones that are bubbling away. Read on to find out more.
Parenting guidance: understand as much as you can
Most teenagers’ decisions, good or bad, will be based on their hormones. It’s easy to think of this as a kind of excuse, and depending on different parenting styles that might be precisely how you see it, but you need to think about it more deeply than that.
Simply put, your teenager can’t help it when they do or say something that you don’t feel is appropriate. Take heart that in years to come when they look back over their teenage years, your child will cringe at some of their activities.
In the meantime, you still need to be there for them. Not only is it part of your parenting responsibilities, but it will also make them (and you) feel more secure and might even quell those hormones slightly.
Your teenager’s body is going through a lot of changes at this point, but don’t forget that their brain is too, and this is where a lot of the issues take place. They will be confused, scared, excited, and a jumble of all kinds of emotions.
No wonder the teenage years take their toll, and your parenting skills will be put to the test. Parenting guidance is something to take to heart as much as possible.
Think back
We’ve all been there. We were all teenagers once. And even if this is a time of your life that you don’t like to look back on too often (it’s a complicated, embarrassing time, as mentioned above), it’s essential when you want some parenting guidance to do so.
Think about how you acted and behaved; think about what you were feeling and how you saw the world.
Hard, wasn’t it?
Think also about your parents. What did they do? When they were parenting teens, how did they go about it? If you can’t quite remember and you have the privilege of your parents still being with you, ask them.
Asking for parenting tips and different parenting styles can help immensely. You won’t want to put everything you hear into practice, but there will be some information that you can most certainly use.
Do your research into teenagers today
If you are the parent of a teenager, it’s fair to say that it will have been a good few years since you were one yourself. Although you should think back to how you were feeling (hormones never change), it is also a good idea to do as much research into today’s teenagers as possible.
What’s new for them? One of the main things is going to be social media. This is so prevalent in a teen’s life that parenting guidance to do with a teenager must make mention of it. Parenting tips relating to teenagers will have to take notice of social media.
It’s down to you to learn as much as you can to better understand them. This goes for anything that will directly affect your teen.
There is a lot to learn, so don’t feel bad if you don’t know it all, or there are some aspects that you had never heard of until now. The fact that you are learning says a lot about your excellent parenting skills. It is always worth looking into parenting guidance classes too. You will be with many other people in the same situation as you, and that in itself can be heartening.
Join in with your teenager
Start by getting an overview of what teenagers are doing these days. Next, you can move on to test your new way of parenting a teenager by discovering more about the one you’re bringing up. What is it they like to do best? What makes them smile even when they are feeling down?
Would it be okay if you join in?
This is an excellent question to ask when you are parenting teens. They might be entirely against it at first, and that should be expected. No matter what your parenting styles may have been in the past and no matter how close you were, the teenage years will bring a slight (or significant) distance between you. It’s how you attempt to close that gap that makes the difference.
If they say no, back away, don’t keep asking. However, you can continue to be interested in what they are doing. Look for events you can go to together, but be prepared to go alone at the start. Eventually, slowly, they will start to realize that you want to spend time with them. They might say yes. Give them the space they need to work it out for themselves.
Conclusion
Parenting guidance for parents of teens is all about understanding. Understand who they were, who they are, and who they are becoming. Understand how they are feeling. Use your parenting skills to know when you should get closer and when you should step back.
Most of all, be kind. It’s easy to get angry and say something you’ll regret in the heat of the moment. What’s complicated, and what all parenting styles have in common, is staying quiet. Letting your teenagers vent and be angry when they need to is vital, even if it seems like a terrible thing to do.
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