Parenting Support

If only there were an “Easy” button

In today’s society, being an adolescent is far from easy. While adults think they have more serious problems, contemporary society serves up a combination of pressures, some of them quite subtle, that can make growing up harder than it’s ever been.

Managing work for up to eight different bosses (teachers) while struggling to get adequate sleep can result in stress about grades, difficulty concentrating on tasks, poor test performance, and intense pressure to gain admission and pay for college.

The social aspect of school isn’t any better. Teens have to determine their own identity – to try to stand out – while simultaneously finding a way to fit in. Their fluctuating hormones don’t help; many report isolation and moodiness or difficulty in building trust and close relationships with others.

Nostalgia for the past

As parents, it’s sometimes hard to remember what it was like to be a teenager. Adults can often be out of touch with the harsh realities of their lives – realities that we all take for granted as “the way things are.”

Teens can seldom tell us what’s wrong, because it’s wrong everywhere they look. They see no model of life lived any other way.

And often, teenagers blame themselves for the troubles they experience. When that’s too painful, they become angry with us. But the real trouble is a force much larger than they are – one they can’t even pinpoint – and so have little chance to fight.

We need to understand the things that make life challenging for our teenagers, to become more adept at guiding them through these formative years.

How can therapy help?

As children grow into adulthood, the everyday challenges of being a teen become greater.

And as we grow further and further away from that time in our lives, we forget how it felt to walk the halls of the high school, to schedule meeting with friends, to have the whole world ahead of us – yet have no idea which path to take or what to do next.

In therapy, you can learn to communicate emphatically and effectively with your teen.

In addition, your teen can learn to share personal and troubling encounters that cause worry and stress.

Working together, you and your teen can learn to create a peaceful living arrangement.

And your teen can learn to handle pressures of school and recreational activities, to become a strong and confident young adult with new roles and a new identity.

It may not be easy, but it’s definitely worth it.

Reach out today to begin building that bridge of mutual understanding to cultivate the relationship you desire and to help your teen emerge from this rite of passage with flying colors.