Teenage and rebellion has gone hand in hand for years. This even happened as long ago as Biblical times, starting with Cain and Abel. As a parent, what do you do about this? Do you fight against your teenager or surrender to their dark ways? Do you try to defeat them, make them surrender? By going about this situation like this, it can cause you to hurt your relationship with your child.
The best thing that you can do is to figure out why your teenager is rebelling. When you can understand why they are rebelling, you can understand more what to do about it.
Identity
Your teenager is often confused at who they are. Teenagers are often struggling with figuring out their purpose in life. When this happens with your child, try to help them to know that they are important and help them to understand their identity and their self-image.
Acceptance
Remember being a teenager and wanting to fit in? The same thing happens in the lives of our kids even today. They want to belong, and they want to fit in. If your child is having a hard time fitting in and feeling accepted, try to find out why and to help them.
Help your child understand what they are struggling for and what they need. Let them know that it is okay to be different and that they are allowed to have their own thoughts and feelings. Encourage your teenager to be different and to stand out.
Attention
Teenagers want to be noticed, even by their parents. They will not always ask for their parents’ approval or attention but sometimes they will act out instead. When this happens, learn to be available to them.
When a mother or father is always working, sometimes children need more attention than they are getting, and they will look for the attention in the wrong places.
Fathers need to let their daughters know that they are beautiful, smart, and that they can conquer the world.
Mothers need to show their sons that they are smart, strong and they have what it takes to be leaders in this world.
Control
When children are young, parents are in control of everything that they do from what they eat to when they go to bed. We decide for them what they will wear, where they will go and how they should behave.
As children get older and become teenagers, they want to start making more decisions for themselves instead of being told what to do.
We need to show our teenagers that they can make their own decisions, to a point, and we have to learn to trust them. As time goes by, we can learn to understand their decisions and trust that they can make good choices.
Freedom
Teenagers are looking for some freedom in their life. They might say that they want total freedom, but the truth is they still will rely on us for things that they need.
Parents need to understand that as their children get older, they need to have more freedom and independence from us. Even if we want to hold on to our teens, let go a little bit and give them some freedom to make their own decisions.