12 Essential Tips:

• Remember you’re a parent, AND a friend.
• Establish dependable together time.
• Parent actively and appropriately.
• Try to be there after school.
• Keep your standards high.
• Make it a high priority to eat meals together.
• Keep the lines of communication humming.
• Encourage good self-care.

1. 1 Family is Important. Although teens often give the impression they’d rather be doing almost anything other than spending time with their family, this is not the case.
2. 2 Structure, Trust and Respect. Authority, rules and limits are all important in a teenager’s life.
3. 3 Time with Friends.
4. 4 School and Other Things.

Toxic parents are emotionally out of control. They tend to dramatize even minor issues and see any possible slight as a reason to become hostile, angry, verbally abusive, or destructive. Lack of empathy. This means over-parenting and making unreasonable demands even on adult children.

*Names changed by request.

• Wash their own clothes.
• Cook a meal.
• Earn their own money.
• Be in a healthy relationship.
• Avoid pregnancy and STIs.
• Understand they’re not the centre of the universe.
• Mind their manners.
• Be street-smart.

Parenting primary school age kids is by far the least stressful, least demanding and least emotionally draining of all the stages of parenting.

Adolescence can be a confusing time of change for teens and parents alike. But while these years can be difficult, there’s plenty you can do to nurture your teen and encourage responsible behavior. Use these parenting skills to deal with the challenges of raising a teen. Positive attention is a must for teens.

Use these parenting skills to deal with the challenges of raising a teen. Positive attention is a must for teens. Spend time with your teen to show him or her that you care. Listen to your teen when he or she talks, and respect your teen’s feelings. Don’t assume that your teen knows how much you love him or her.

Listen to your teen when he or she talks, and respect your teen’s feelings. Don’t assume that your teen knows how much you love him or her. If your teen doesn’t seem interested in bonding, keep trying. Regularly eating meals together might be a good way to connect. Better yet, invite your teen to prepare the meal with you.

Giving teens a chance to establish their own identity, giving them more independence, is essential to helping them establish their own place in the world. “But if it means he’s going out with a bad crowd, that’s another thing,” says Elkind.