Successful Relationships

This is the seventh article of the series Teenage Years – Parents Adventure or Nightmare How you can embrace the adventure and stay away from the nightmare.

These tips were either suggested or approved by my teenage friends, and the seventh tip that was named is:

Don’t Give Up!
I recently asked some young friends what a successful relationship between teens and parents looks like from their perspective. We came up with a list of 8 tips for parents to do (see this list here), and then went on to think about things not to do. As we were going over a list of “donts” with a grin they added “And don’t give up on us”.

This is the fourth article of the series Teenage Years – Parent’s Adventure or Nightmare. How you can embrace the adventure and stay away from the nightmare.

These tips were either suggested or approved by my teenage friends, and the fourth tip that was named is:

Don’t Smother Your Teenager.
Smothering is one of the traps that parents can easily fall in to with their teenagers.

Your teenagers are undergoing a lot of changes in life as they prepare for adulthood.

Yes I know they may be still your “baby boy” or “baby girl”, to you. However, as hard as it may be for you to face, they are probably not going to want to hear that as much any more, if at all. They certainly don’t want you calling them any such thing in front of their friends …

This is the third article of the series Teenage Years – Parent’s Adventure or Nightmare. How you can embrace the adventure and stay away from the nightmare.

These tips were either suggested or approved by my teenage friends, and the third tip that was named is:

Don’t Punish.
I have to admit, this suggestion was not my idea. I did not come up with it, they did. Do not punish, they said. They insisted that this should be included in our series.

So where does this leave us parents? I certainly look forward to your comments below.

Here are some thoughts,

We all know and recognize that the teenage years can be a difficult time of life. There are many changes going on both in the bodies and the minds of the youngsters. Here are some of the main things that are happening to your teen:

We took a look at 4 things you can do that will empower you to win your teenagers and influence them in the previous post. The teenage years can be fun, or they can be a time of frenzy. It really depends how you approach them. It will certainly be time of many changes. The way you relate to your son or daughter who is now becoming an adult will change.

Here are four tips that will help you avoid the frenzy and enjoy the fun.

1. Do trust your young adults.
I had to laugh at the comment I received on this one. “Do trust your teenager, but don’t forget he/she is still just 16 years old”.

Although it came across as a little funny, this comment carries excellent wisdom. In other words do not let them have the upper hand.

A few days ago there was a period of slack time at work and so I took advantage of this time to ask some questions of my young co-workers who are fresh out of their teens. I decided it would be an interesting exercise to get some ideas from their perspective on their ideal relationship between teens and their parents.

They were eager to answer the questions I had for them. In fact I noticed that they enjoyed their participation in this project. I am thankful too for their input.

Teenage years can be difficult even traumatic for both the youngsters and their parents, but they don’t have to be.

One of the big frustrations a leader or employer can meet with is to have team members or associates with little or no initiative.

This can be not only frustrating but time consuming for the leader who has to take time to show his member or associate every little detail.

Often the team member is very willing to work, but you have to tell him exactly what to do. He/she never or rarely takes the initiative to do things without being asked to.