Parents are to study the dynamics of adolescent development in readiness to understand and guide teenagers through the turbulent transition period of adolescence as described in another article in this blog site ejioforcnc.blogspot.com: What is Adolescence? Parents should be prepared to lend support to the teenager as he transits from childhood to adulthood without any trace of adding to their pressures through high-handedness or unrealistic expectations.
Parents and teachers should face the fact of the teenager’s
unpredictability, usually presenting as a most amazing paradox, and encourage them rather than condemn, be patient with them rather than being irritable. Parents
must be consistent with this posture notwithstanding the teenager’s
inconsistencies as explained.
Parents should understand the challenges the rapid physical
and mental development of the teenager pose for the teen. They must live with
the awkwardness resulting from the difficult rapid growth of their bodies as
well as the challenging mental development of their intellect and be ready to
provide proofs for answers to the teenagers probing questions now that the
simple answers provided earlier in their childhood no longer suffice.
Parents should know that it is their responsibility to form a
good foundation for teenagers who are rapidly moving towards setting, like
freshly-poured cement concrete, in their respective individual molds. Parents must
take good advantage of this crystallizing period of life of teenagers and drop
all the fairy tales of how teenagers are of ‘the last days” hence impossible to
handle. If corrupt leaders can seize upon the youth owing to this reality, then
every bit of effort and time parent put in this formative period in guiding and
helping teenagers is well worth their while. Parents must understand that
teenagers hold, cupped in their hands, societies hopes and dreams for the
future.
Children should be the greatest investment of responsible
parents. As packets of possibilities we never know the heights which our
teenagers may climb someday. Bottled up in a teenager might be a president, a
professional, a world leader, a missionary and so on. Far more important than
investing our money in the training and education of our children, as parents, we
need to invest our time in training
them in the ways of God who after all is sovereign over all. Parents should
cooperate with God the creator to produce men of God to occupy sensitive
positions in the affairs of men to make for peace and tranquility in the
society as they “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew
chapter six, verse thirty-three).
Parents must cash in on the idealism and optimism of teenagers
to lead them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the most ideal person in human
history and Altogether Lovely One. Left on their own youthful exuberance, they
are incapable of resolving the issues of life that challenge their optimism. But
with the knowledge of the greatness of the unchangeable Jesus Christ and making
him his own Lord, the disappointments and disillusionments he must face will make rather than break him.
Parents should help teenagers maneuver through life
activities they may dabble into without necessary experience due to
overconfidence in their capabilities. Parents should learn the right ways of
guiding teenagers through difficulties they encounter while trying out their
zeal. Parents should be tactful and patient at such times while guiding them so
that they unconsciously profit from their parents’ experience. There should be
no room for nagging, scolding or talking down to the teenager at such trying
times.
The teenagers’ craving for popularity and seeing themselves
through the eyes of their peers should be harnessed by parents to introduce
them to Christian communities to allow them tailor their desires to Christian
ideals. This will curb the teenagers’ tendencies to be one of the worldly gang.
Parents should encourage their teens to cultivate, maintain and stick to high
standards ,along with others who have such standards as exemplified by Jesus
Christ, our ultimate role model in life.
Parents must endeavor to direct their teens away from such
conformity to group tendencies that are worldly and dangerous and instead point
them to acceptable and harmless norms or ideals.
Parents have a responsibility to guide their teens out of
their excruciating self-consciousness owing to their super-sensitivity to other
peoples’ opinions about them. They should be guided to dare to stand alone
instead of finding false security in the wrong group. Parents need to guide
teenagers to develop self-confidence and poise.
A teenager can be guided to relinquish his self-consciousness to Christ-consciousness by a godly parent or teacher. He can be taught to trust Christ to be with him always, leading, guiding and strengthening him along the rough road of life. He can learn to “do all things through Christ who gives [him] strength” (Philippians Chapter four, verse thirteen). God has actually promised such trusting teenagers “a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist” (Luke Chapter twenty-one, verse fifteen).
Parents must observe and study their teenagers around them in order to learn about their basic needs like plenty of activity to engage their vim and vitality. Parents can learn that teenagers are full of energy and always on the move, enjoying just running around, hence plan useful activities to engage them in productive ways. Parents must help teenagers inculcate discipline and self-control as they approach full adulthood. At the present time, teenagers prefer some home rules and regulations to keep them in shape and secure
Parents must be prepared to provide the many needs of their
teenagers as they present themselves, parental love, parental pride,
encouragement, and confidence. Above all, parents must endeavor to lead their
teenagers to God who is their ultimate source.
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