As your teenager begins to grow you may find that you seem more and more disconnected from them. Part of this is natural as children seek to form their own identity and assert their independence away from their parents.
However, everything doesn’t have to go down the drain, you need to make sure that you are taking all the steps necessary to preserve your relationship. Here are some tips for ensuring that you’re still good buddies with your teenager.
Quality Time
The first step you will need to take is to make sure that you are spending quality time with your teenager. While your teenager may not be jumping up and down with excitement at the thought of spending more time with you, there comes a time when you must insist on it somehow.
You need to be assertive about this. It’s the only way to help preserve your relationship. Focus on what your teen likes to do. So if they like to rollerblade or play video games try to do that with them.
Set Boundaries
It’s important that you set boundaries for yourself and your teenager as well. These boundaries will ensure that you will have a good relationship. However, when you first and foremost set these boundaries you can prepare to have a bit of a tug-of-war situation in the beginning.
If you persevere you’ll get better with time and there will be a calm after the storm. So take heart when you are implementing boundaries, after a while they will become second nature.
Have Respect
Even though you are the parent and they are the child it is important that you are respectful to your teen. Not only will you be creating a more peaceful relationship but you would also be showing them what respectful behaviour looks like.
Always remember that your teen is watching you and you serve as a role model. This does not mean that you will not get things wrong but as much as possible to try to be on the right side.
Listen Up
You must try to keep the lines of communication constantly open with your team. That means you have to try to listen and not let your personal feelings get in the way.
The less judgmental you are during this stage of your child’s development the better off they will be in the long run. Bear in mind though that while you do want to develop a friendship, you also have to remember what was said about boundaries before.
You need to create a delicate balance and it can feel as if you are playing with fire one minute and on a merry-go-round ride the next, but with time you will get it right.
There’s a lot to think about when you are raising a teen but if you are willing to work hard you will succeed. You will raise a healthy child who is ready to take on the world and live their best life.