How to Strengthen Your Connection with Your Teen Kids?
posted on Jan 05, 2023
“Teenage is the time of dilemma from which a father will lead you by your hand and a mother by her heart to the road of clarity.”
Adolescence is an important phase of development where one transitions from a child to an adult. Not to blame the hormones, there is a deeper implication of this phase in every facet of a kid’s life. It is the age when your teenager deals with anxiety, curiosity, emotional and hormonal imbalance, physical changes, peer pressure, and a lot more simultaneously. At the same time, they want to have their independent identity and not seek your help as parents.
We at Gurukul The School, one of the top CBSE schools in Ghaziabad, completely understand that it is easier said than done when it comes to parenting and communicating with teenage kids. We also agree that there are no shortcuts for upbringing a child, especially one in his/her teenage years, yet we feel there’s a need for addressing the challenge of building strong connectivity with adolescents. So here we have a few tips and tricks for our respectable parent community to help you in making stronger bonding with your teenagers.
As parents, you may think that you have always been living together and know your child well. Yet it is important for you to understand that adolescence is the phase when your child is undergoing a massive change mentally, physically, as well as emotionally. As such, it is only understandable if the child is eager to find his/her independent identity. When you offer a patient listening to your teenager without handing out any advice or dropping ‘I think’ comments, they would feel easy to share their thoughts with you. You can never understand them fully, but their open communication with ease will help you relate with them better.
Togetherness is a silent pacifier. Even if you do not talk to the child directly about what’s going on in their life, a small gesture of spending time together doing activities which they are comfortable with or some things which they are already involved with can be amazing. These activities of togetherness may include eating together, watching movies together, cooking their favorite dish or a YouTube recipe together, or reading together.
In this tech-driven world, we often miss quality time. Talking about your puberty or teenage incidents and sharing the childhood memories that are stored in your mind’s backyard can bridge your bonding with your teenager. Remember, your stories should have a mixed aroma of failures, fantasies, dreams, blunders, lies, honesty, and so on. You can rest assured the kid is going to have a heartfelt laughter with you, and warmth will penetrate into your bonding with them.
- Lay genuine efforts toward understanding their behavior
We understand that the cranky or sometimes messy behavior of your teens might often get on your nerves. However, the need is for you to understand that the forces driving them this way are not always driven by their desires but also by the changes happening in their brain as part of their development and growth. This understanding will calm down your expression and reaction, and your child will have better comfort in connecting and sharing with you.
- Try & connect with their friends
It doesn’t require only direct conversations. Friends are an important part of any teenager’s life, and some of them continue to be lifetime relationships. Spending time with their friends with no intention to spy or pry can help break the ice with your teenager and their friends. Sometimes simple comments during these hangouts can become lifetime learning for your child.
Conclusion
Teenage is indeed a difficult phase to deal with, not just for the parents but also for the kids themselves. As such, if you, as their parents, can extend your subtle support and guidance to your kids with a pinch of compassion and understanding during this phase, it will definitely do miracles in building their confidence and self-worth. We at Gurukul The School, one of the top CBSE schools in Ghaziabad, hope that the tips shared in this article above will help you strengthen your spirit of building a stronger and more fruitful relationship with your teen kids. Happy parenting!