
Parents: 5 Mistakes You Are Making With Your Teen
Once your child reaches that lovely age of tween and teen days you have to start tweaking your parental ways a wee bit. No more is your child really a little kid anymore and with that comes the need to let go of your parental reign a little to allow your child to form into a pre-adult who is nearly ready to be on their own with a few short years.
Many parents are clueless when it comes to raising teenagers, after all, the first time around any parent struggles with various stages of childhood. If you find yourself raising a teen for the first time, then please read on to avoid these 5 mistakes most parents make with their teen.
- Reading Too Many Parenting Books – this can also go along with taking too much advice from other parents. When your child becomes a teen, you have worked the last 13 years learning who your child is, raising them with certain morals and with that comes strength in your child. While it’s great to read parenting books on teens for some insight, don’t take it for 100% truth, you know your child best, so learn to trust your own instincts.
- Expecting the Worst – it’s so easy for parents to think the worst of their teens because the media, society and other parents of teens have our mind heading in that direction. While your teen may have hobbies that scream they are on drugs or making other bad choices, that may not be the case. Teens will start to express interest in new hobbies simply because they are trying to figure out who they are; so open up communication instead of holding them under social stereotypes.
- Freaking Out over the Small Things – whether it is a haircut, fake piercings or drawings on their hands, teenagers do exhibit a wide range of likes based upon what’s popular with their peers. Parents of teens for centuries have been freaking out over the small things, learn to be thankful that it’s just a haircut that will grow back or just marker that will wipe off, rather than a new something that will impact your teens life forever.
- Ignoring Big Subjects – many parents of teens will turn a blind eye to the obvious issues their teen may be having. It’s as if parents get into denial that their child could ever do drugs or drink alcohol, reality is many teens get into substances that they shouldn’t. Do make a big deal of subjects that can impact their life forever, and remember no teen is an angel 100% of the time, no matter how well you raised them.
- Discipline Overboard – now this can go both ways, you have the parents who discipline to much and those who become friends with their teens and don’t discipline enough. Try to be in the middle, too rigid of an environment won’t allow your teen natural growth as a person and no lax of rules may make your teen less responsible as an adult. Keep a fair, reasonable middle ground when it comes to disciplining your teen.
Every parent makes mistakes, we are imperfect human beings after all, we just hope that these 5 mistakes you are making with your teen assist in guiding you towards a more positive relationship with your teen, instead of having everything backfire on you. When you work to avoid these mistakes while raising your teen, you can rest easy knowing that you are making the best parental decisions possible while still allowing your teen room to grow.

