Do you know the difficult conversations to have with your teen? Let’s check the top three and help you know how to prepare your teen for the real world!
Raising a teenager is tough. Teens believe they’re invincible and that their parents should treat them like adults. Parents, on the other hand, often struggle with giving their children more independence.
Difficult Conversations to Have with Your Teen
One way you can give your teenagers a little more responsibility is to have challenging conversations with them. Here’s a list of difficult conversations to have with your teen. Once these talks are over, you can be more confident in letting your kids out into the world.
Drug Use
Parents must talk to their teens about drugs. Teenagers are known to experiment with drugs and alcohol. A lot of teens do this because they want independence, or they want to rebel. Let your teens know how dangerous it is to experiment with drugs, including common pharmaceuticals such as Zoloft. While most teens think that popping antidepressants is normal, these can often lead to addiction and mania.
Use research as your ally during this conversation, as well. For example, talk to your kids about the opioid crisis so they the severity of this global problem. Show your teens the sad statistics about kids their age who experiment with illegal substances.
Be transparent and let them know that any questions are welcome. Try your best not to scold them or be judgmental. If you’re too harsh, your teens won’t feel comfortable coming to you anymore.
National Emergencies
The COVID-19 outbreak has turned the world upside down. Schools, restaurants, and bars have all shut their doors. Parents are struggling with learning how to work from home during coronavirus outbreaks. One difficult conversation to have with your teen is what happens during national emergencies.
By now, we all know how important it is to practice social distancing. Sit your teenagers down and let them know how vital it is that they follow the rules. Discourage them from going out and seeing their friends during this unprecedented time in history.
Allow your children to express their frustrations during this conversation, too. Lots of teens have had their sports seasons or graduations canceled. Make sure your kid knows that it’s okay to be scared and that you’ll be with them through every step of this crisis.
Prejudice
Sadly, millions of people still face prejudice every day. Although it’ll be hard, sit down with your teen and talk about how discrimination may impact their lives. Discuss racism, sexism, and ableism with your teenager.
Try to reassure your kid that the world isn’t full of doom and gloom. The last thing you want is for your child to think that the world is a terrible place full of suspicious characters. Instead, tell them that the purpose of talking about prejudice is to prepare them, should they ever face it.
Hopefully, they’ll never run into people that treat them differently because of their race, gender, or disabilities Still, they should be ready to handle it if they ever do—that’s where your guidance comes in.
The Difficult Conversations to Have with Your Teen
These 3 difficult conversations to have with your teen are tough, but necessary to talk about. While parenting doesn’t come with a handbook, it does come with more joys than one could imagine! For more parenting tips, make sure to sign up for our newsletter below!
