Picture in your mind your most prized possession. An object you own that you love and cherish deeply. It may be an antique rug, a photograph of your parents, your car or a flat screen tv. The thing you would think about saving if the house was on fire.
Should something happen to this prized possession that causes it to crack, or stain, would you leave the repair to chance? Or would you consult the services of a professional – someone who is trained, who has the knowledge and the experience, an expert in the field of repair for that particular object?
You wouldn’t try to fix your most prized possession with an old, rusty tool. So why try and fix your teenager with clunky, out-of-date parenting?
The parenting tools we often reach for when times are tough are based on the parenting tools we were exposed to when we were little. The ones our parents used, which they got from their parents, who got them from their parents … you get the picture. It’s not that we don’t want to be our best parent. It’s more that we don’t know how to be our best parent. We need new parenting skills.
My parents are lovely people. The way I was parented as an adolescent was simply them doing their best with the tools they had. Some of the tools I use with my adolescents are from them, others are consciously different. I have chosen to upgrade my parenting toolkit.
This conscious decision was based on:
- My own thirst for learning
- All the new knowledge available to us
- The understanding that today’s world is different for my adolescents
You can upgrade your parenting toolkit too. If you realise that you need new parenting tools, I suggest you check out ‘Teen Talk’. The online course for busy parents by a busy parent. It’s at home learning that will change the way you communicate with your tween, teen or young adult.
You may already be sending your teenager to an expert, expecting them to know how to fix your adolescent. That’s great, it’s an excellent start. There’s a lot of hours between sessions though, hours in which you parent them. ‘Teen Talk’ will help you make the most of that expert’s knowledge. And be the parent they turn to because you have consciously deepened your relationship with them.
Why wait for another crisis? Upgrade today.