Every childhood stage has its ups and downs, and that’s no different once someone reaches the teen years. It gets a lot harder to parent an adolescent because they’re desperate for independence and prone to rebellion. However, it’s not difficult to maintain a good relationship with your teenage son or daughter, provided you avoid making certain mistakes.
4 Things Not To Do When Parenting A Teen
Although arguments and tantrums are still bound to happen if you refrain from doing these four things, they should hopefully become a bit more of a rarity.
Don’t Snoop
It’s natural to be concerned about your teen, but that doesn’t mean violating their privacy is the best way to go about things. It crosses boundaries that simply aren’t acceptable at this age while also damaging the relationship between privacy and trust. Plus, it risks driving a wedge between the two of you that won’t be easy to repair.
Even if they don’t discover what you’ve done, you’ll still have to live with the knowledge that you stooped this low. That guilt may well eat away at you, especially if your search doesn’t reveal anything suspicious.
Don’t Tease
The occasional joking remark is perfectly fine if that’s the kind of relationship you have with your teen. It can be good for them, as it helps them not to take themselves too seriously. However, too much of this can cause a lot of inner turmoil. This is especially true if their friends also tease them a lot.
These feelings may well externalize as aggression, particularly if you throw a lot of sarcasm into the mix. That’s why you should refrain from this behavior, as Daniel Wong’s key tips for dealing with rebellious teenagers advise. The advice presented here is incredibly effective at keeping adolescents from acting out, so it’s helpful to consider if you have a teen who fights you at every turn.
Don’t Rise To Their Level
It’s easy to lose your cool when your teen yells at you and tries to start a war of words. Engaging in this behavior won’t do any good, though, because it’ll just set a bad example for your child.
The best thing to do is remain calm and prove that you can resolve issues without flying off the handle. Manage this enough times, and they’ll start to take notice and hopefully start to follow your lead.
Don’t Take Things Personally
It’s so easy to take some of the things that teens say to heart. The important thing to remember, though, is that they rarely ever mean what they say. In the heat of the moment, they can come out with all sorts, and they’re often not mature enough to realize the effect that their words can have.
When you let these comments get to you, they can cause you to make bad decisions or say something regrettable back. It’s better to try and ignore what gets thrown your way, using these tips on how to stop taking things personally. If anything does offend you, then wait until they’ve calmed down before you discuss it.
What Not To Do When Parenting A Teen
There’s no perfect way to parent a teen, but with these tips, you should at least be able to reduce the number of arguments that flare up between you. If that means a little more peace at home, that has to be a good thing.
