Parenting Teenagers

Parenting teenagers can be the most challenging and the most exciting part of your calling as a parent! WARNING: Don’t try to do it on your own!!! There are many youth and family agencies and online resources to assist you with your crucial role as the most influential person in the life of your teen. This page is dedicated to you and the good work that you do to raise the next generation.

Parenting Teens Competency Test

No parent is the perfect parent. We all have strengths in some areas of parenting and room to grow in other areas. It’s helpful to know where we are strong and where we need to do some work for improvement. This parenting competency test developed by Dr. Robert Epstein is designed for parents of teenagers and will give you some helpful feedback on your strengths and your growth areas as a parent.

CLICK HERE to access the test.

Parents: Teens Like You More than You Think!

Too often, parents distance themselves excessively during their child’s teen years. We live with this unspoken rule that teens don’t want anything to do with their parents and if parents try to get involved, their teens will push them away. It’s not totally unreasonable to think this because sometimes our teens actually do tell us they hate us and want us to go away, but it’s a mistake to think that those words are literally true. This article offers great insight on the great value of parent presence during the teen years.

CLICK HERE to read more on the Aha! Parenting website.

Getting Your Teen to Open Up

Parents often wonder why their teen doesn’t talk to them about daily activities or, more importantly, the serious stuff of teen life. Teens really want to talk about these things with trusted adults, but they don’t always feel like they are heard or understood. This article offers some keen insight into conversational styles that are effective for parents to use with their teens. Generally, if parents become more curious and less judgmental, they can be much more effective at getting their teens to open up.

CLICK HERE to read more from the Child Development Institute.

Teen Dating

Parents play a key role in helping their teens to date wisely. It is not safe to allow teens to figure out this part of life on their own. Here are some facts to conside:

• One out of every four high school girls has been the victim of physical or sexual abuse.
• Middle school, high school and college-age females are more likely than any other age group to experience date rape.
• While the majority of dating abuse victims are female, it happens to males too.

CLICK HERE for additional information and parenting tips about teen dating from the Very Well Family website associated with The Cleveland Clinic.

	CLICK HERE for practical information about parenting younger teens.
	CLICK HERE for practical information about parenting older teens.
	CLICK HERE to access a website that is dedicated to helping parents and other adults understand youth culture and how to work with it for the benefit of the teens you love and care about.