What are teens and parents going through?
When children reach adolescence they are faced with additional pressures from which they had been isolated in their previous years. This can occur as a result of additional social activities, additional school responsibilities, or even as a result of your desire to make your own decisions without the help of parents or guardians. This can cause them a great deal of distress which, at the same time, can also aid their emotional growth. They need to learn to deal with stress and unfamiliar situations while dealing with anxiety and possible helplessness.
Parents of adolescents in such situations are sometimes pressured to want to do something to alleviate the adolescent’s problems. Any interference in this natural developmental process is fraught with dangers. Parents can only offer advice when requested and would do well to avoid interfering unless threatening situations are noted. They must constantly strive to build adolescent self-esteem so that they can have the confidence to deal with unfamiliar situations in which they find themselves. In such situations, peer pressure and interaction with people your age is more than likely to be helpful. This is especially helpful if your peers have faced similar situations and learned lessons from it. These shared experiences are great ways to bond and build friendships that, as a result, are likely to be long-lasting and helpful to the adolescent.
Intelligent management of adolescent counseling
Parents must be emotionally intelligent to have any influence on teens, allowing them to become socially aware while remaining stable and flexible in their emotions.
When a parent interacts with a child, especially a teenager, certain levels of stress are introduced. Parents should keep this stress under control, as the adolescent can easily perceive it. This stress could lead the child to find the interaction constantly bothersome and could cause the child to avoid the situation.
Accept the fact that, as a parent, you are also a human being and have your own needs for time and space. Let the adolescent know this firmly enough and the adolescent will almost certainly accept the fact and live with it. Be consistent in all your dealings with their problems and even if they find your decisions upsetting, they will still respect you for the consistency you show.
Don’t let any feelings of guilt get into any dealings with your teen. Children are always quick to pick up on these feelings and are more than likely to take advantage of them. If you feel guilty in any way, it is better to correct the situation that has caused this guilt.
Show your adolescent the respect that his emerging and developing personality expects. Listen to their problems and their suggestions and never impose the law. Explain your situation in an adult way. Teens will respond when you place the responsibility of understanding on them.