Teens, often voice for more freedom. Parents walk on a thin line drawn between wanting their kids to be confident, self efficient and also be safe from the wrong people out there. Some teens are offered too much of the wrong kind of freedom from their parents and these kids tend to go astray. However some parents are too strict and orthodox that they do not let their kids make choices for themselves fearing the consequences. In both instances the parents are wrong. Teens should be allowed freedom in certain ways and restricted sometimes. Here are some tips to help balance closeness and independence.
1. Managing time
Teach your child to manage their time in most effective manner. Tell them its importance; make them understand that if they do not learn to manage time and do not plan their work accordingly then things will turn Topsy turvy. Many teens can manage to get their things done in reasonable amount of time with some practice and your guidance. If they still have problems with it and if it is affecting their grades you can help and supervise.
2. Getting them up
Many parents face a problem in waking their kids from bed. Like infants teens too need a great amount of sleep and they are never fully satisfied. Tell your kid that it is his/her responsibility to wake from bed and they are still not a baby to rely on the parent. However, speak to them softly, make them understand its importance. Tell them that if they do not wake up in time then they might be late for school, or at their sports. Make them get habituated to an alarm clock, this way they will surely wake up on time. After a few trials and help from your part your kid will be up by himself.
3. Learning to manage spending
Basic financial skills are an important lesson to be taught to your teen. Tell them to spend money wisely, neither is a spendthrift nor a miser. Parents should give a fixed amount of pocket money to the kid and tell them to spend it wisely, after they spend all the money, ask them in a polite and friendly way how and for what they spent it. Teach them how to use credit cards and ATM cards. Let them pay the bills and do weekly grocery shopping, this will give them an idea how to run a house and also its financial aspects. Ask them to find a part time job after school or on weekends and earn their own pocket money.
4. Doing mistakes
We want our children to grow into responsible adults who make the right choices for themselves. These qualities are a stepping stones to an independent responsible teen. To develop these abilities, sometimes teens fail but eventually they will learn, but this needs some support from the parents. Sometime committing mistakes will teach the kid a lesson and they will be more careful next time. So, let the kid learn for himself how to get up and fight back.
Teens always look to their parents first for help in shaping their life and career. They believe they always have their parent to fall back on in times of need. As a parent, you should look beyond the surface to who your child is and who he/she shall become.
