As a parent having a good, intelligent, obedient and loving child can give you all the joy in the world. However, parenting cannot be accomplished without hard work. There are many phases a child goes through during his or her growth phase and each one of them is unique . Parenting an adolescent is however, incomparable.
Though some stages just breeze through before you even know what is going on, there are others that gives you a lot of stress. One among such difficult stages is the adolescent stage.
Parenting an Adolescent
The most stressful and difficult part in parenthood is to raise an adolescent into a good human being. This emotional period of your life starts once your child reaches his/her teens. Parenting at this time is extremely crucial
The adolescent period is a developmental period which involves various physical and biological changes. During this period the teens feel pressured and stressed. Majority of adolescent make their transition and become mature without much difficulty.
Researches show that around 80% of them pass adult hood without much difficulty while the remaining 20% face many difficulties like family problem, unwanted relationship, educational pressure and depression, etc.
Attitudinal Changes
The teens possess an “I don’t care” attitude during this stage, which alarms most parents. The feeling of helplessness drives the parent’s anger. The child starts to build up their own identity as they step into adolescent. And they do everything to make you realize that they do not need you anymore.
Can any one of you say you have never made a mistake while handling your teenage child? Have you never lost your temper?
You need to realize that during this period your child is experiencing a feeling of helplessness, sadness, stressfulness which might lead to serious depression. The adolescent life can be affected permanently if depression lingers. The best way to prepare your child into adulthood is to start preparing them at an early stage.
Parental Affection
Parental affection is the crucial factor of teen’s health. An adolescent can overcome their problem by effective involvement of their parents. So you need to take great care while handling them. Here are few ways that you can keep in mind while handling adolescents.
- Be close to their heart; ensure a safe and loving atmosphere at home. Parenting will take a toll on you, be extra cautious how you deal with kids at this time.
- If you are a busy person wrapped up in your job and finding less time for your family and fail to recognize or understand your child. Then this can lead your child into wrong path due to your lack of attention. So find plenty of time for your child.
- Be their friend and encourage them to talk openly.
- Never complain for every small thing. Parenting now, needs to be more friendly than ever
- During this period they give more attention and importance to their friends than parents. So know about their friends properly. What kind of friends they have.
- Be honest to your child and show respect for their individuality and self reliance which will help them to grow into mature adults.
- Allow an appropriate freedom to them. Do not give them a chance to disobey you.
- Teach them the responsibility and the importance of having a limit to everything.
As an adolescent passes through stressful stage, you need to let them know how much you love them. When they need your support and understanding always be ready for them, and it is the best way to handle them.
