Let’s Welcome Your Teenage Daughter
Are you ready for the good news? Your daughter’s teenage years are officially between age 13 to 18. The bad news? Well, the fact they are official means nothing, because some unlucky parents find their daughters behaving like a teenager much earlier. So, being a Mum myself, I thought it was time to open up my secret book of parenting guidance and share some survival tips with you.
• Keep your opinions to yourself. She’s not interested and she’ll tell you so most strongly.
• She’ll always need to go somewhere. Fine, you say. However, the problem is, you’ll be driving her there, and you’re not to wear embarrassing clothes or say something embarrassing.
• You’ll always be embarrassing, so just don’t talk to her friends. Better yet, don’t even exist until she wants you to drive her somewhere.
• Eye rolling is a perfectly valid sport.
• Texting is the only way she can communicate with you. You’d better brush up on your text abbreviations quickly.
• You don’t know anything. Seriously, you know nothing anymore.
So, how do you manage this challenging behaviour? Let’s find out.
How to Survive Your Teenage Daughter’s Behaviour
I know your next question is how you can survive this era with your sanity intact. Well, survive you will, but you’ll have probably lost your marbles before it ends though. In saying so, there are some things you can do to make this journey smoother for both of you.
• Be the grown-up – you need to be making the right decisions for her and guiding her to start making them for herself. She needs to be parented nowadays just as much as she was when she was little.
• Own up when you get it wrong – teenagers pay close attention to what you do. When you make a mistake, own up and acknowledge it. This will pay dividends in the level of respect she has in you.
• Dressing sexy doesn’t mean she wants to have (or is having) sex – it’s a tricky one. She’s exposed to continual messages that she needs to wear certain clothes and look a certain way. But revealing clothing doesn’t mean she is trolling for guys, nor that she’s ‘giving it up.’ What’s important is that you discuss these issues with her, ensuring you both get to have your say.
• When she’s behaving badly, tell her – as easy as it would be to bite back at her comment or behaviour, don’t. Instead make it clear that it’s unacceptable and there is a consequence for such behaviour.
Like with any parenting, remember to pick your battles with your teenager. You can’t win them all, so save up for the really big stuff!
Posted: Tuesday 16 October 2018