Understanding your child and the challenges she is faced with will help you retain your friendship. It’s vital that you not only recognise your child’s newfound challenges but also ensure the lines of communication are open.Even though your child may appear as though they don’t want a relationship with their parent, trust us they do. Parents need to work at breaking down the walls their tweens and teens set up.
Try asking what your child needs and try to understand his point of view, even if you don’t agree.
Open dialogue should be part of a daily routine. A simple way to connect with your tween is to share the high points and low points of your day with each other. This will help to create a forum for which they know they can share anything that might be worrying them.
It’s also important to hold healthy discussions about alcohol, drugs, sex and dating. Even though you may find it uncomfortable, a tween is going to learn about these things one way or another.This is a challenging time for parents too, as their role is shifting. It becomes more about guidance and less about managing. Your child to a certain extent needs to be allowed to make their own mistakes.
A child who has been afforded the opportunity to learn from their own mistakes will be safer than those who haven’t. It’s important a child knows that their parents will be there to support them when mistakes are made.
