Five Ways to Stay on Track with Your Teen
How can you cope with the inevitable explosions of adolescence, while helping your child grow to healthy adulthood?
Here are five tips:
- Accept that conflict is inevitable.
Parents who do that can step to the side, emotionally. They don't have to become angry or vindictive. They're just helping the kid to grow up by setting clear, consistent limits on behavior.
- Listen, listen, and listen!
The transition to self-reliant adulthood is much tougher if parents don't validate the teen's growing sense of self by responding to concerns.
- Look for ways to praise your teenager.
Parents must not get into a negative cycle in which their only interaction is criticism. You've got to take the time and energy to let your teenager know you respect and admire him or her in many different ways.
- Set clear, realistic limits and explain the consequences if the line is crossed.
Then stick to your guns! Always make it clear, however, that the adolescent chose the consequences by crossing that line.
- Look for the marvelous human comedy in these struggles.
Humor is absolutely essential. If both sides can develop a sense of humor about their disagreements, two-thirds of the battle is won!
