Help your teenager enjoy their youth

Let’s face it, when we’re teenagers we strive to be an adult, to be older, to know our own decisions. But when we hit 30, all we can think about is how great it was to be young and how getting older is not as great as it’s cranked up to be.

So, with teenagers yelling and screaming and slamming doors in our houses, maybe it’s time we help our teenagers, who seem to know everything, enjoy this time and make the most of it.

When we’re young we are always striving to do something. We can’t wait to attend our first dance, have our first kiss, get our P plates, receive our first pay check, have a cheeky wine, and ultimately tell all our friends about it the next day. So as adults, we lose that feeling a bit because the older we get, the less we get to experience any firsts.

As adults, and especially as parents, we experience a constant sense of anxiousness. A permanent state of worrying about the mortgage, meeting deadlines, picking up the kids on time, keeping the ex-partner at bay. It’s constant, non-stop thinking and planning, and endless working. So for our kids, and our teenagers in particular, there is no harm in helping to remind them just how fantastic those teenagers years can be. Here are a few tips how to help your kids embrace this beautiful, carefree time of their lives:

1. You’re an adult for a lot longer than you are a teenager

Adulthood means responsibility, work, bills, deadlines, taking care of people other than yourself. So help your teenager enjoy themselves. We aren’t suggesting buying them bottles of wine, but we are suggesting you encourage their new experiences. Encourage them to aim high by pushing for their driver’s licence when they turn 16, stress less about the crappy teacher who gets them down, do the odd McDonald’s run, laugh at the memes, and argue less with their siblings.

2. Tell them it will all be okay

When you’re a teenager you can bounce back a lot easier than when you’re an adult. Even though their first heart break feels like forever, hug them but help them to see life goes on. Bones break, and then they heal (a lot quicker as a teenager than when you’re older), hangovers don’t last forever, and if you fail an exam, study harder for the next time. These things aren’t the end of their world, we live to learn.

3. We never stop learning

Being a teenager can be daunting at the best of times. All the unknowns, trying to be independent but still needing to cling on your parents. And our teenagers try to know-it-all. Rules are meant to be broken and mistakes will be made forever. They can take comfort in these mistakes, as we try to guide them to do better next time, or try something new. You’re allowed to change careers, or degrees, or part-time jobs. You’re allowed to change your dreams. The important thing is to help guide them and ensure they don’t lose their thirst for knowledge and new experiences.

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