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Things every parent with a teenage child should know

Parenting teenage kids is hard work. However, a lot of friction can be avoided if parents remember a few crucial things about parenting adolescent children.

Teens like exploring the world around them

Just like toddlers explore the world by touching everything around them, putting all kinds of things in their mouth and crawling all over the place, teens too like to explore the world around them and sometimes this results in them making bad decisions. Parents need to allow teenage kids to make mistakes as this is the only way they would hone their judgment. Just arms them with the knowledge of all the bad things that can happen in the world and commend them when they make good decisions in bad situations.

Teens enjoy being given “real” responsibilities

One of the biggest accusations that parents of teens have to face is that parents still treat them like kids. To avoid this argument, teens need to be given “real” responsibilities around the house that aren’t limited to chores. This could include being responsible for the family’s grocery shopping, ensuring that the family’s vehicles stay in good shape, having a say in family budget and organizing family events (vacations, birthday parties and Thanksgiving/Christmas meals). This would help kids feel grown up while training them for real life situations when they grow up.

Teens like being a part of the decision making process

When your child reaches his or her teens, they inevitably begin rebelling against parents’ authority. However, this is basically a result of them feeling left out of the decision making process in the house. To counter this, parents can hold a family meeting where the teen is allowed to negotiate rules of the house, curfew, etc. and punishment for breaking them with parents.

Knowledge of laws prevents teens from acting out

A lot of teens think their parents are uncool or overprotective when they forbid them hanging out with shady peers or going to unsupervised parties. However, this frustration arises solely because teens aren’t aware of the fact that the law frowns on parents that allow kids to indulge in dangerous behaviors. Instead of just imposing strict rules, parents need to sit down with their kids and tell them the laws about child safety and the legal consequences of dangerous behaviors teens may consider “cool”.

Parents can win the trust of their teenaged kids and help them stay out of trouble if they simply follow the above mentioned tips.

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