I talk to parents of teens all the time, from all different walks of life.  Some teens are going along with school and activities; some are struggling with self-esteem issues due to learning disabilities; some are dealing with more serious issues like alcoholism, toxic dating situations, self-harm, and more.  Parents tell me over and over that there is very little support for dealing with parenting of teens, mainly because each teen is a complete individual, and there is a need for privacy so not everything can be shared the way parents shared things their toddlers or even early elementary children were going through.

The hardest part of parenting teens is knowing what to do!  Any general instruction seems to apply less and less and what happens in conversation really can be a reaction to a situation that already has taken place, and it’s hard to know how much to hold a boundary or push for more responsibility.  Our oldest will be turning 18 this summer, and we also have a fourteen year old in the house, so I totally understand these feelings!

The number one way you can fix the hardest part of parenting teens, besides spending time WITH THE TEEN IN FRONT OF YOU, is to understand teen development.  Every teen is an individual, but there are archtypal patterns to teenaged development that can help us figure out how to parent more effectively!

Early Adolescence- ages 13 to the big watershed changes surrounding ages 15/16

• there is often an obvious placing of space by the teen between himself or herself and the family.  This is an age when many families complain their teens are in their rooms and not coming out.  This is a safety measure for a gradually new emerging human being who feels the need to protect him or herself as they gain their own perspectives on life.
• this is often an age of confrontation against authority and boundaries, but behind that is often a measure of uncertainty.  Using communication skills can be helpful.  If you are unsure how to react, try reading the book “How to Listen so Teens Will Talk and How To Talk So Teens Will Listen.”
• it is often an age of emotional extremes.  Ninth graders are certainly very much more like middle schoolers than eleventh graders.
• It is a time of measuring oneself against others, which is why social media can be so harmful for many teens.  Please use boundaries and know what your children are doing online!
• It is a time of using safety and boundaries (self imposed or parent imposed) versus delving into a more open world.  

How do you parent this stage?

• Respectful communication
• Spending time with your teen; they are going to open up working side by side, in the car, or before they go to sleep. Spend time with them!
• Play ho-hum with the emotional extremes. Be steady.
• Don’t let the world just open up with no boundaries.  They are too young and need your support, encouragement, boundaries, safety net.
• Let them fail and take the consequences of things.  You can only help to a certain point regarding things that have to be done. Do not do it for them!  This will impair the later stages of development unfolding.

Middle Adolescence – ages 15 or 16 to 18

• This is a time of increased personal responsibility and realizing that not everything is someone else’s fault.
• They are experimenting with finding emotional intimacy in friends, maybe with a significant other, but hopefully finding a way that their own personality and beliefs remains intact in the relationships.
• They don’t want to be identified with their childhood for right now!
• They have enthusiasm for a new challenge and want to experience that within themselves or out in nature or in academics
• They can feel inadequate or inferior and may hide their innermost feelings
• Sensitive teens might regress and turn to escapism

How do you parent this age?

• Understand their vulnerability; help them deal with their innermost feelings if they are sensitive but also let them take actions and fail – do not do everything for them in an attempt to shield them
• Artistic work,whatever that entails, is really important for this age – so theater, drawing, painting, woodworking, building things, modeling or sculpting, handwork, book binding – are all really important forms for inner self-expression
• Help them get the wider context and the enthusiasm for a challenge in a safer way, especially for those 15-17 year olds.
• Be there, be present.  They need you to not do things for them, but to help them, guide them, empower them!  Some older teens need more set parameters than others.  Be careful with your own boundaries as to what you will carry.

Late Adolescence – ages 18 to 21

• They are grappling with the big questions:  Who Am I?  What Do I Want?  What Am I Capable Of?  
• Then they have to follow up these questions with their own actions – the actions come from their own abilities, so if they have had everything done for them in early and middle adolescence, late adolescence isn’t going to look pretty.
• They still find it hard to accept criticism.  This can still be an age of idealism.
• They may start to explore and recognize that their personal development also intersects with a cause or community and get involved.
• They may find their own place, their own work, a significant other or group of friends and community

How Do You Parent This Age?

• Support them as they try out different healthy  paths.
• Help them develop a love for responsibility – if you did the work in early and middle adolescence, this will come naturally!
• Help them identify the abilities they carry that will help them move into action
• Encourage them

Those of you with teens, what are the most successful and least successful things you have done in parenting or seen other parents do during these years? I would love to hear from you.

Blessings and love,
Carrie