Establishing A Connection With Your Teen
There are parents who have successfully raised their teens. What I mean by the word successful is the ability of the parent to raise a teenager well, becoming a good role model for the teen, and influencing the teen to reach his or her potentials. This task is not impossible to accomplish. It wouldn’t take drastic measures to influence your son and daughter to do good, and to be good, during his or her pre-adolescence stage. What you need, simply, is a partnership with your teen; a partnership that would entail a genuine effort to reach out and show concern.
Teens are not like pets or cute stuffs that you can order around in the hope that they would obey you without a second thought. In order to truly motivate your son or daughter, you have to establish rapport with them. Take time to be with them, ask questions about their academics, their friends, and their concerns. Give them good advice, share stories with them of how you were as a teen. Do not underestimate the power of creating a connection that would bridge the supposed gap between parents are teens. It may not always show, but teens yearn to bond with their parents, too. If you give them what they need, they would see that you are truly keen in seeing through their welfare. That would make all the difference; that would bridge the gap.
As you strengthen your relationship with your teen, then that would be the time for you to help him or her to set goals. Make him or her understand the importance of making the right decisions, of taking responsibility for his or her actions, without necessarily living your teen’s life for them.
