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Hello everyone. My name is Christina and I'm a 20 year old psychology major at Illinois State University. I'm currently taking a Developmental Psychology of Adolescence course and one of our assignments is to get information from parents who are members of internet forums dealing with parenting. I know a lot of you have younger children, however, I can only use information about adolescents. If you have/have had an adolescent child, I would really appreciate it if you could answer the following questions. Thank you so much.
Age of adolescent:
1. What are the biggest joys, as well as challenges, in parenting teens?
2. What types of disputes do you experience with your teen?
3. What coping mechanisms do you use to deal with these disputes?
4. What are your feelings about your teen getting into steady romantic relationships? What guidelines or rules will you (or have you) established?
5. What are your feelings about your teen and part-time work?
6. What types of changes have your experienced as a result of parenting a teen?
7. What are your feelings about the friends of your teens? Do you have guidelines or expectancies that you share with your teen regarding their friends?
8. Do you feel that your teen respects your decisions? Why or why not?
9. Do you feel that being a teen is more or less stressful than your own teen experience?
10. What words of advice would you give to an individual just starting to parent a teen?
Thanks again! :grouphug:
Age of adolescent: 13 year old boy
1. What are the biggest joys, as well as challenges, in parenting teens?
Joy, watching him develop into a young man, and becoming more independent. Challenge, same thing :)
2. What types of disputes do you experience with your teen?
Wanting more independence and trust than he is ready for.
3. What coping mechanisms do you use to deal with these disputes?
We negotiate. If he wants trust and independence, he has to earn with "matching" additional responsibility.
4. What are your feelings about your teen getting into steady romantic relationships? What guidelines or rules will you (or have you) established?
Yikes. This scares me to death!!! At 13, he is no where near ready, but I think we have provided good models of how people in "romantic" relationships treat each other. We are very open in talking about things, and he talks about which girls he finds attractive, and why, sexual feelings, etc.
5. What are your feelings about your teen and part-time work?
ABSOLUTELY!!!
6. What types of changes have your experienced as a result of parenting a teen?
Learning to let go, and let him become his own person.
7. What are your feelings about the friends of your teens? Do you have guidelines or expectancies that you share with your teen regarding their friends?
My son has a very hard time making friends because he has "emotional issues" that prohibit him from being appropriate with kids his own age. He is emotionally less mature than they are.
8. Do you feel that your teen respects your decisions? Why or why not?
Most of the time he does, but then again, he is a teen, and they are supposed to fight our decisions. :rolleyes:
9. Do you feel that being a teen is more or less stressful than your own teen experience?
We live in a small town, as I did when I was growing up, so I think MOST of the experiences are fairly similar, but coming from foster care, and having a set of birth parents that are less than ideal, creates problems with him forming his own identity. He is too stuck in his past and what he thinks he is, and should be.
10. What words of advice would you give to an individual just starting to parent a teen?
Hold on, and get good tranqulizers. :woohoo:
Thanks again! :grouphug:[/quote]
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