Tips For Parenting Teens
Over at Pantagraph.com, Phyllis Coulter reported an invaluable Q&A session at Tri-Valley Middle School between Dr. Tim Shannon, a clinical psychologist, and parents of teens. The parents asked some questions that many parents would have wanted to know. Dr. Shannon’s tips for parents of teens are worth mentioning here again:
- Have an understanding of teens: they are supposed to act out and try their parents’ patience. (So be tactic and patient with them.)
- Help teens organize themselves because they need training and support. Sometimes, parents could be their “secretaries” too.
- Help teens feel secure in making little mistakes. Suffering the consequences from those little mistakes, and learning from them, is part of being a teenager.
- Most importantly, “Keep things in perspective.”
I couldn’t agree more. Everyone learns from mistakes. Teens would desperately need them too, as most of them are willing to take risk trying new things. When anyone tries new things, there will be mistakes. However, we have to distinguish what kind of mistakes our teens can afford to make, and what they can’t. And help them to distinguish too! What do you think?