Helping Adolescents Make Better Choices: 20 Tips for Parents

Throughout adolescence, your teenager will be confronted with many difficult circumstances where choosing to make a safe and healthy choice may not be the easiest or most obvious thing to do. Peer-pressure may factor heavily into the choice-making process regarding numerous serious issues (e.g., drinking alcohol at parties, trying drugs, having sex, joining gangs, etc.).

It’s normal for adolescents to challenge their moms and dads' values and beliefs as a way to “test the system” and seek autonomy. Adolescents need support and “guidance” from their moms and dads to make important choices about their future. However, the more “controlling” you are, the more rebellious your adolescent is likely to become.

As a mother or father, being present to protect your adolescent from circumstances that could potentially hurt him will always be an intense urge that often can’t be realistically fulfilled. As your teenager grows older, parenting becomes less about control and more about offering guidance. You can help support your adolescent in making responsible choices by providing a solid foundation built upon sharing your time, experience, values and trust.

How to help your teenage son or daughter make better choices:

1. Adolescents sometimes believe they don't have any choice in the outcome of difficult circumstances. Help your adolescent to see alternatives that may be smarter, more responsible options.

2. Allow your adolescent to describe the problem or situation in his own words.

3. Allow your adolescent to live and learn from mistakes.

4. Allow your adolescent to make a choice and carry it out, and ask if he has a plan. Remember, your adolescent may make different choices than you would prefer. Then later, ask him how things worked out. What did he learn from the choice he made?

5. Allow your teen to voice her personal opinions.

6. Ask questions that avoid "yes" or "no" responses. These questions usually begin with "how," "why," or "what."

7. Ask your teen how she “feels” about the problem.

8. Be open and understanding whenever your adolescent needs to talk.

9. Be supportive, especially when your teen makes mistakes.

10. Define what constitutes a safe or smart choice. Help your adolescent understand that her health is often the most important factor involved in choice-making.

==> My Out-of-Control Teen: Help for Parents

11. Give your teen unconditional love – and show it.

12. Help your adolescent to identify and compare the possible consequences of all of the available choices. Explain (without lecturing) the consequences of different choices. How will the results affect your adolescent's goals (e.g., how would smoking affect playing on the soccer team?).

13. Help your teen set realistic goals, and show faith in his ability to reach those goals.

14. Involve your teen in choices that affect the entire family.

15. Praise your adolescent when she makes a good choice.

16. Really listen to what your adolescent is saying instead of thinking about your responses.

17. Remember that adolescents with high self-esteem and self-respect are more likely to make responsible choices.

18. Talk with your adolescent about ways to handle risky circumstances (e.g., peer pressure to drink, smoke, have sex, or get in a fight, etc.) to prepare her to make safer choices. To feel comfortable talking openly with you, your adolescent needs to know that you will not punish her for being honest.

19. Try to put yourself in your adolescent's shoes to understand his thoughts and feelings.

20. Whenever your adolescent comes to talk to you regarding a choice she is currently facing, make the most out of the opportunity. Your approach to any discussion has a real impact on whether or not your adolescent feels comfortable coming to talk to you in the future. Convey to your adolescent that you want to help, but won't try to control the situation by taking the choice out of her hands or making the choice for her. 

Choice-making grows stronger each time a teenager has to figure out a tricky situation on his own – making a poor choice, facing the consequences for the poor choice, and then reliving a similar situation again with a new set of choices gathered from the first unsuccessful experience. For some teens, it may take several of these unsuccessful experiences before they figure out the successful framework to make different and more positive choices to arrive at a more fulfilling conclusion that propels them in the right direction.

These situations crop up every day (e.g., at school, at recess, at lunch, on the bus, in extracurricular activities, in email and other forms of electronic media, etc.). There is no way for parents to be present in each and every one of these settings -- and they should NOT be there for every interaction, because if they were, their teens would never have the room to gain those experiences they need for healthy development.

Moms and dads need to allow their teens to "practice, practice, practice" in order to learn, and they need to avoid the temptation to come to their rescue each time they make a mstake. Practice letting go, stepping back, and being present only when you need to be.

 

==> My Out-of-Control Teen: Help for Parents

When Adolescent Anger Becomes Aggression Toward Parents

Disagreements are to be expected as part of family life, and these can start to happen more frequently as your youngster enters his adolescent years. Sometimes disagreements will turn into blazing rows, with your adolescent insulting you or cussing. This can be hurtful and disappointing, leaving you asking yourself how things ended up this way, or what you could have done differently.

A certain level of moodiness and irritability is to be expected from adolescents, but it’s important for parents to maintain disciplinary boundaries. It’s NEVER acceptable for an adolescent to become aggressive and physically hurt the parent. If violence against parents goes unchecked, it sends the message to the adolescent that violence is a way to get what you want in life. If violent behavior gets rewarded (due to the fact the there was no significant consequence for it), the adolescent will likely be violent toward others down the road. But unfortunately, other people will not be as accepting of such behavior and will either retaliate with violence of their own, or call the cops and have the aggressor arrested for battery.

If you have experienced aggression from your adolescent, then you need to face the issues behind all the rage. It may be hard to admit that there is a problem, but if your adolescent is pushing or smacking you, then this is domestic battery and needs to be dealt with severely. You deserve to feel safe in your own home.

==> My Out-of-Control Teen: Help for Parents

Tips on coping with disagreements:

1. When possible, try to resolve arguments with a compromise, or at least show that you have understood where your adolescent’s emotions are coming from. If the situation becomes too heated and you are finding it difficult to stay calm, walk away. Avoid blame, and let your adolescent know that you will be able to talk to him again when you have calmed down.

2. Listen to your adolescent and try to see his point of view. Even if you only see it slightly, let him know instead of just disagreeing with everything. When your adolescent trusts that you can hear his views, he may be more likely to talk calmly instead of yelling and swearing.

3. If you find disagreements are getting out of hand regularly, strongly consider counseling. Your adolescent may find it helpful to talk to someone new and unbiased, someone who in not in his family and won’t judge him. Also, you can even attend family counseling sessions together.

4. Accept that disagreements do happen. Sometimes your adolescent will say really troubling things, but remember that he is still learning to cope with new situations and new emotions. Difficult feelings like rage and anxiety can be frustrating for your adolescent, and the expression of these emotions may come out in ways that are difficult for you to hear. Try to stay calm and avoid saying anything you may later regret.

Tips on dealing with aggression:

1. Understand that all adolescents need opportunities to be independent, push boundaries – and even hurl some hormone-induced verbal abuse at parents from time to time. Teenagers are entering a new phase in their life. They are searching for a new identity and trying to reject the old one, while all the time wrestling with raging hormones they can’t control.

2. Avoid using aggression with your adolescent. For example, if you are smacking your adolescent as a form of discipline, or even because you are losing control of your temper in a disagreement, then you are giving him the message that it is OK to use aggression to solve disagreements. By avoiding using aggression, you are setting a positive example of what you find acceptable.

3. Don't become hysterical and lose all control if you discover something serious that your teen is up to that you don’t approve of (e.g., being part of a gang, having a weapon, abusing drugs, etc.). When a teen with aggressive tendencies is attacked, he will be more likely to retaliate with hostility and physical force. Instead, ask him calmly why he is involved with the risky behavior, and what you can do together to address the situation.

4. Give your teen space. Recognize that he is taking anger out on you and may not know how else to deal with troublesome emotions. Once he has calmed down, you may be able to talk to him about what has happened and suggest he let you find him some help.

5. Having an aggressive adolescent “rule the roost” in your home definitely needs to be dealt with – its effect on the family can be far-reaching. Not only does it make life miserable for everyone else in the house, but you could find the younger siblings copying the aggressive adolescent’s behavior. Some door-slamming and arguing is totally understandable – and even healthy on occasion. But, if your adolescent is becoming aggressive verbally and physically, then as a parent, you need to take control in a firm but non-aggressive way.

==> My Out-of-Control Teen: Help for Parents

6. Hostility breeds hostility, so take a deep breath and attempt to get to the root of the problem calmly with your teenager to see where this is coming from. Admitting to him that you sometimes find parenting difficult – or that you are sorry for something you said or did – can also help.

7. If your teenager is unwilling to accept that she has a problem with violence, then try to arrange counseling for her. Speak to your doctor or your teen’s school about what kind of help is available.

8. If your adolescent admits he has a problem with violent, acting-out behavior – and is willing to get help, book an appointment with a counselor as soon as possible.  Show your teen that you will support him in getting through this stage. With your love and forgiveness, your adolescent stands a much better chance of identifying rage and learning to express his strong emotions differently.

9. The most important thing is to put your safety first. Any time your youngster lashes out violently, get out of the way and go somewhere safe. If you still feel threatened or scared and don't know how to protect yourself, then you have every right to contact the police. Be clear that you will stand by the boundaries that you have set and the values that you believe in – even if that involves having your teen arrested for domestic battery.

10. If your youngster is being aggressive in some situations only (e.g., at home, but not at school), then the good news is that she knows what she is doing. She has the capacity to control her behavior, and so can change.

11. The basis of a good relationship with your adolescent is good communication. So talk to him rather than shout at him. Be as non-judgmental as you can, and that way he should be more likely to open up to you.

12. The main thing to remember is that, unless your youngster has a mental health problem, or a disorder such as ADHD (which often goes undiagnosed), then there will be an underlying issue which is making her unhappy and act aggressively. And while “going in guns blazing” may feel like your only option to combat the behavior, it’s actually the worst thing you can do.

 

==> My Out-of-Control Teen: Help for Parents