Parents-Teen Relationship

4 Amazing and Instructive Ways You Can Influence Your Teenager As a Parent.

Over the years, parenting experts have observed that effective parenting is a deliberate, calculated, planned, and skillfully carried out responsibility. In other words, how you influence your teenager depends greatly on the level of your bonding, and relationship you have with him/her which should be deliberate and intentional.

Just like every other aspect of life, the neglect of this responsibility will result into tearful nights, bitter family, and unhappy society at large.

Here are some deliberate acts you can engage in to foster a great positive influence on your teenager:

1. Every teenager is peculiar.

Treat each teenager as such. Get to know the peculiarity of each teenager. Don’t generalise. Don’t assume. And don’t compare.

Parents default by imposing responsibilities and acts meant for adult on their teenagers forgetting that teenagers are not full adults yet. They often feel or think their teenagers posses similar inherent abilities, and sometimes skills like them or other teenagers. You need to remember that in every teenager is a genius that is unique to that teenager and different from how you are formed and how other teenagers are gifted. Let the genius in your teenager find its expression.

2. Help your teenager develop his/her thinking skills.

The frontal lobe (the decision making part of the brain) of a teenager is still growing throughout the teenage years. This is the reason for the major differences in carrying out “mental tasks" between adults and teenagers. Hence, it is your responsibility as a parent to ensure and assist your teenager to reason more and make better decisions using suggestions, reasoning, and advising techniques instead of coercion or compulsion always. Learn to relate to their minds and understand that they use their “guts” often times.

3. Form a close and personal relationship with your teenager.

You can only influence your teenager when you become RELATABLE to him/her. This bond you develop with your teenager helps him/her relate issues to you easily because they trust your judgement as a companion.

4. Be your teenager’s everyday friend.

Teenagers have been found to relate better with their peers than they do with their parents often times because of the ‘bossy' and ‘judgemental’ way parents come up to them. Little wonder, peer pressure happens to be one of the greatest influence they experience due to the need to ‘blend’ into their circle of friends.

As a parent you must ensure to be an AVAILABLE friend to your teenager without CONSTANT scolding, judging or condemning. This will help your teenager trust you with the details of his/her life and assist you in being that influence in his/her life that you so desire.

REMEMBER, effective parenting is a deliberate, calculated and skillfully planned responsibility.

...Do it right, do it well, and create a better tomorrow.

#DoItRight

#DoItWell

#CreateABetterTomorrow

By Nankap Julna