When your teen faces problems such as addiction or juvenile delinquency, it can be heartbreaking. It can be tempting to give in to anger, sadness and blame.
Teenagers are people too. They need your love and support.
Here are some simple suggestions to help your teen get back on the right track.
1. Continue Providing Material Support
It’s tempting for some parents to kick their teen out of the house when they fall into trouble. Nevertheless, this will do nothing to help your teen get their life back together and it just might permanently ruin their life.
With a roof over their head, food, transportation and medical care, your child stands a much better chance of overcoming addiction or juvenile delinquency than if he or she was homeless or couch-surfing.
2. Offer Emotional Support
Avoid lashing out at your child in anger, sadness or frustration. You, as a parent, are an important source of emotional support for your child.
Listen to their problems and offer advice. A few words of encouragement and affirmation can make a world of difference.
They may also need emotional support from other people including friends and family members. While they should stay away from people that encourage addiction, they may feel more comfortable talking to other family members about their struggles. It’s important they feel like they can do that.
3. Understand Your Teen
In order to help your child, it’s important to understand where he or she is coming from. Understand why they’ve made the choices they’ve made, and understand their obstacles they face in overcoming their problems. Empathy and communication is paramount.
4. Use Appropriate Discipline
While it’s important to give your child plenty of support, that doesn’t mean you should forgo any form of discipline. If your child is under 18, it’s healthy to apply a reasonable amount of discipline.
You’re the parent, so you must do what you think is best for your child. If you don’t trust your child with money, don’t give em any.
If your suspicious if your teen leaves in the middle of the night, forbid them from going out, or even place door alarms if necessary to keep them safe from their own choices.
An age-appropriate amount of discipline will help your child overcome addiction and juvenile delinquency, even if they think you’re being unfair at the time.
5. Give Your Teen The Freedom He Or She Deserves
Don’t micromanage your teen’s life. Especially if your teen is 18 or older, give them advice, guidance and love, but ultimately let them make their own decisions.
6. Help Your Teen Get Recovery Support
Therapy and counseling will likely be necessary for your teen. Professional services help enormously for emotional or mental issues, but are even more important if your teen has an addiction.
Addictions cannot be overcome easily without professional help, so get your teen into a recovery center as soon as possible. You should also have them speak to someone who successfully overcame addiction with a 12-step program.
There are many professional options for support your teen may need.
Don’t give up on your teenager. With the right amount of love, proper support, and professional resources, your teenager can get his or her life back together.
These tips can help make sure you give your teen all the resources they need to get back on the right track.
Author Chaleigh Glass provides us with four things to remember when we’re dealing with troubled teen. Click here to learn more.
