Raising teenagers require strategy and skill based on understanding. The parents have done a great job in bringing up the little one to enter the teen zone. But it is not time to sit back on the haunches in a mood of self congratulation because suddenly life changes for both parties – the parents as well as teens.
The very name of teenagers makes many parents feel frightened because the youngster suddenly becomes a stranger – neither an adult nor a child. This period of life requires the maximum attention and understanding from the parents because it can make or unmake the future of the child.
The teen years are years of change. The parent will now have to teach the teen to become an adult – a life laced with not just unlimited fun but with responsibilities and responsibilities towards the family, society and the state. Unbridled indulgence to the teenagers damages not only their own lives but also that of family.
How can the parents do all this while raising a teenager? By understanding that the very nature of the teen is to revolt. All big revolutions have been brought about by the young. It is a tremendous source of strength. The best of teaching is not by long boring lectures buy by the parents being an example to the teenager.
Teens react to the call of adulthood basically in two ways – by being an extrovert or an introvert. The outgoing type is heady with friends and gatherings whereas the introvert stays locked in with books and computers. It depends on genetic tendencies. What the parent can do is to nurture these traits and not suppress them. For this the parent has to watch the teen and find out what the inherent tendencies are. Both have their plus points – if carefully cultivated.
The health of the teen comprises of two sections – the mental and the physical. As such the growing teen needs to be fed on something more than vitamins and heady meals. The mind has to be fed with nurturing tales that will touch the human chords and cause them to awaken.
Parents often complain that they hardly get to see or talk to the teenagers. This obviously has not happened over night; it has been allowed to happen with parents being either indifferent or too cloying. In both cases the teen seeks freedom.
Too possessive parents should learn to dissociate themselves partly and become involved in their own interests. Those parents who never have had time for the children for raising a teenager should have no reason to complain now that the child has no time for them!
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