Learning to drive can be very frustrating and takes hours of practice. Often the learner driver will make mistakes. These mistakes are often down to inexperience. But as they build up experience, they learn from these mistakes. Now imagine that their instructor became angry everytime they made a mistake and would yell at them. I think the nerves alone would cause a multitude of mistakes!
Our teens are learning to function in an adult world. To make real life decisions and to navigate some pretty tricky issues. They will make mistakes and we can help them learn from their mistakes by being understanding, patient and helpful. Empathy.
Put anger aside and sieze the 'teachable' moment! I'll guarentee you that the teen who has made a mistake is already beating themselves up pretty good. Stay calm and allow the consequences to shine through.
As a parent of a teenager I can tell you it does take effort on my part to not let anger take over. I find it far easier to show empathy towards my teen if the mistake has been made outside the home or where the consequence is obvious. I am struggling with the constant winding-up that he imparts onto Chook. I think it is compareable to running a stop sign for the umpteenth time...you would think he would have learnt by now!
Want more! For extra content or to just keep up with the mayhem, like Triple T Mum's Facebook Page!
What great advice. OMG I'm so scared of getting to the teenager stage! Hopefully I'll have plenty of advice like this under my belt for when I finally get there :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with Kylie. Super scared of the teenager stage. With three girls, there's one particular time of the month I'm more worried about :p. I love your philosophy though and hope I remember that for times of hardship (I know I'm going to have a crier!)
ReplyDeleteGood food for thought for down the road!
ReplyDelete