Every parent wants to help their teen. And every teenager experiences school life differently. As your teen continues to grow from a child into an adult, they are constantly learning new things about themselves and others, while carving out a new path for themselves to be their own person in the world.
Teens are usually faced with a lot of challenges to begin establishing their own identity and who they want to become in their adult years. For a teen with very little life experience, the pressures to find their path very early on can feel exciting, but daunting at the same time. Their school work begins to feel like a test of their success in life and a test of their ability to create a future for themselves.
BALANCED INVOLVEMENT TO HELP YOUR TEEN
As a parent and caregiver, you may be feeling as if you want to help your teen from making mistakes and guide them every step of the way by remaining very involved in their life. Or you may be trying to give your teen the space to figure things out on their own. Either way, the key is to be balanced. Allow your teen to make mistakes, but create a safe place for them to come to you at any time if they need support to make the right decisions and provide a consistent space they can rely on to come to you and talk over their general life experiences.
PROVIDING HEALTHY SUPPORT
- Encourage healthy relationships
Providing a perspective and example of what a healthy relationship is or looks like is a fantastic and effective way to encourage your teen to have healthy relationships in their lives, especially with friends. This can help diminish the need for teens to go through trial and error in their early adulthood to learn what are healthy relationships and why they may deserve to experience them. Encouraging healthy relationships can also include teaching your teen about boundaries, communication, and overall - Make time for quality family time
Spending consistent family time together is a great way to provide comfort, security, and belonging to your teen within your home. Creating time to watch movies together, cook together, play board games, hike, or adventure are just a few ways to create bonding time with your family without the distraction of phones or too much screen time and not being present with one another. - Encourage your teen to join extracurriculars
Extracurricular activities after school are fantastic opportunities for your teen to feel a sense of community, while doing something that they love and connecting with like-minded peers. This is also a positive way to teach your teen how to handle multiple responsibilities while remaining balanced. - Encourage breaks and self-care
With the pressures of school, work, and heading off to college soon to create their own life, your teen may be feeling a lot of pressure and experiencing many overwhelming thoughts. Reminding your teen to take breaks or take care of themselves provides encouraging support for your teen to prioritize their physiological health and mental health needs. - Model embracing the unknowns of the future
While guiding your teen through life’s consistent crossroads and unknowns of life. It can be helpful for the treatment of your teens anxiety to teach them how to embrace the existing unforeseeable future. This can help decrease their anxiety symptoms of irrational fears and worries about things that they cannot control. Overall, accepting what their future holds, and looking forward to the adventure that it brings.
FAMILY THERAPY IN THE LA CRESCENTA-MONTROSE AREA
Are you looking for a therapist who can best support your teenager through the stress and pressures that school life brings? Given Guidance provides Family Therapy to families in La Crescenta, CA, and Los Angeles County.
Schedule your first session today. You and your family matter to us!