Home And Family

揝hut up!?揘o, you shut up!?揧ou just don抰 get me!?That抯 the conversation you may hear between a teenager and his or her parents. Parents are sometimes scared when they start to realize their children are teenagers because everyone pictures the 搕een stage?as a total disaster. Parents fight with their kids, kids fight back, parents punish their kids for fighting back; it抯 a vicious cycle that may have a simple solution. Everyone thinks that the solution for the 搕een stage?is screaming at them or grounding them. There is another way out, but almost no one remembers how easy it is: it抯 called talking.

One of the most common problems parents have with their teenagers is how they dress. Teens love to express their personality through their clothes. But sometimes parents parents don抰 agree with the fashion style his or her child is adapting. Instead of hiding all their clothes in the basement, you could start by saying that the image that they are portraying to the world is not quite right. Parents could also say this: 揑magine you were a highly respected executive and some one dressed like that walks in. Would you take that person seriously??Believe it or not reverse psychology does work on us sometimes!

Another problem is curfew. Teens party a lot! Parents may get a little too strict on this one because most of the time they are scared that something will happen to you so they will want you home by 12:00 a.m. Of course any teen would get angry at this type of rule and start coming late on purpose. I抳e always said that if parents get to strict on their kids, their kids will start doing things behind their backs. In order to avoid this from happening just tell them that if they behave properly and follow the rules, little by little the curfew hour will be later.

Last but not least we have drinking. But I抦 not talking about drinking a beer or two; I抦 talking about excessive drinking! Seven out of ten teens drink and from those seven at least five have ended up totally drunk. Some teens may control themselves and others just get out of control. If a teen comes home at 3:00 a.m. puking his stomach out of course his or hers parents will find strict measures to make sure that won抰 happen again. Another thing parents can do is highlight the fact that drinking may lead to terrible accidents (fights, car accidents, etc.). Parents could tell the teens that life is to short and beautiful to end it in a second. Trust me on this one, we listen.

It抯 flashback time! Everyone was a teen. Everyone was young and sparkly at some point of his or her life. So parents don抰 freak out when you realize you have a teenager. Teens be considered with you抮e parents, times have changed but that doesn抰 mean you are going to abuse. Just talk- communication is the solution.