When our children go from being children to reaching the teenage years things can get weird for everyone involved. From secretive attitudes, to overall attitude changes, what can we do to deal with our teenagers in a way that’s comforting for them and comfortable for us? Grab a cuppa and let’s talk about ways to handle being the parent of a teenager.
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Allow them to embrace the novelty
This stage may be new for you, but remember that you were once a teenager so it’s not that new after all. Sure, you may not remember every little detail of transitioning from a child to a young adult, but you may still remember how awkward this stage of life was.
The awkwardness stage may be in the past for you, but your teen is living it now.
Allow them to embrace the novelty of being teenagers. Awkwardness and all. There are so many things that are foreign to them which now have taken over their lives.
The more independence you give your teen to try and wade through the emotions of this renaissance period, the more they will be open to coming to you when they need you.
Treat your teens like teenagers, not kids!
Your teenager is not an adult yet but they are certainly not a child either. They are teenagers. And this stage of their development should be treated as an independent territory. Your teen is discovering things that they never experienced before. They have a new found sense of independence that they try to test out often. Thus pushing the boundaries of what was expected of them when they were children. And they want to express that they are no longer children whenever they get the chance.
Learn to accept rejection
Sometimes we just have to accept things as they are. And being the parent of a teenager means a lot of rejection. A lot. Your kid doesn’t need you like they needed you before. Oh no. They’ve got friends for that now. Their friends become that support system that replaces you and the more you try and assert the role you’ve had the more rejection you can expect.
Parenting teenagers can be extremely difficult for many reasons. Sometimes you may feel as you’re going at it alone. Have you realised how many people rally around you when you have a toddler but seem to dissipate as your child grows?
This can all be part of life and even though it may feel like an isolating time for you as a parent you can reach out for help too.
Parenting teenagers can be difficult for all but we hope that these parenting posts have helped you and include a few more useful ones below both from ourselves and other top parenting sites.
Parenting Teenagers
Here are more articles from KiddyCharts on teens - check them out.
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Helen
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!