Must-Know Tips for Parents Raising Teenagers

Teenagers are a handful, y’all. I can’t tell you how stressed my hubby and I were as our girls were growing up. It seemed like everything we did was wrong. However, we learned something new every time one of our daughters entered the teenage years. So now, I want to share some tips for parents raising teenagers themselves. Trust me; you’ll need all the help you can get, y’all.

Prioritize Privacy

The main fight that my girls and I always had was about privacy. My daughters always got upset every time one of us was too invasive. Luckily, I learned to give them their space as they got older. For example, I never read my girls’ diaries if I found them lying around. Also, I let my daughters maintain their own social media pages—as long as they friended me, of course. As much as we let our daughters live their own lives, we also let them know we’re there if they need us. We want our children to know they can talk to us if they’re in trouble. I don’t want them to be afraid of me, y’all. You shouldn’t shoot for that, either, if you want to develop a relationship with them later in life.

Teach Them Life Skills

I want my kids to be independent, y’all. One of my biggest fears is that my girls will be stuck in the nest forever because they can’t do anything by themselves. I tried to avoid this as much as possible during my girls’ teenage years by teaching them essential life skills. For starters, my hubby taught them how to do laundry. Sure, our daughters turned a few socks pinks by accidentally mixing whites with colors. Hey, that’s life! The scariest thing was teaching our teens how to drive. My husband and I would take turns in the passenger seat, and we tried our best to remain calm the entire time.

Get to Know Their Friends

Although privacy is important, y’all should get to know your teenagers’ friends. My girls only hung out with their friends throughout the teenage years. It hurt, but I understood. Their father and I just wanted to make sure we trusted the people they were spending their time with. The best way to do this is to make your place the ultimate teenage crash pad. I always loaded my fridge with junk food so the kids would come over. I made sure we had the latest video game systems around, too. Some days, I had 15 kids over at my house.

These three tips for parents raising teenagers will help you if you’re struggling to make it through their adolescent years. Teenagers are complex beings. Try not to take anything too personal, y’all. Remember, once your child reaches adulthood, you’ll probably be best friends.