Problems Faced by Parents of Adolescent Children | Proven Tips to Handle it:

Are you worried about the sudden behavioral changes in your teenager?

Are you struggling to find credible information about handling teen issues?

Sounds familiar. Right?

Do not worry, You are not alone.

Adolescence is a critical age for children. This is the age where they go through a lot of physical and emotional upheavals and face many challenges.

Teenage or adolescence is the stage where most children are exposed to many internal and external changes. Hormonal changes, puberty, societal and school pressure are some of them.

Because of these changes, teenagers, as well as their parents, go through a lot of trouble.

As a parent of a teenager, you too face a lot of problems in handling their temper tantrums. You are always on the toes to deal with their mood swings, demands, and emotional outbursts.

In such a scenario, the bonding and communication between you and the child play a crucial role. They help to overcome almost all of the problems faced by parents of adolescent children.

Understanding the problems faced by adolescents will help you to handle them in a better manner.

  1. Body image issues and eating disorders
  2. Peer pressure
  3. Unhealthy competition
  4. Depression and other mental health issues

Common Teen Problems

Teenagers face the following teen-specific problems, which they think that no one understands.

You can solve them as you have been through them, and now it’s your turn to talk about it and share your experience or whatever help you can.

Physical Changes

These bother everyone at first as girls start to grow breasts and boys start growing hair.

While periods bother girls, the body odor changes in both, and they become more attentive towards their figure, their peer’s observation of them, and their figure or every other thing.

During this time, what they need most is for you to tell them that it is normal and everyone is going through it. Learn about their insecurities as their needs change.

Emotional Changes

When the body changes, hormones are the reason. These hormones make your teen kid angry, aggressive, sad, confused, feel self-conscious or inferior, and sex is on their mind.

Some kids are always way ahead of their years and may introduce your teen kid to new concepts such as sex.

The desire and thoughts make kids feel guilty, and this is the time when they need open communication. Sex education is more important than you think. 

Educational Challenges

As soon as your kid is a teen, kids start to think that they can handle everything.

They don’t like it if you ask them a lot about school. While their body is changing, so is their life, as these are the years when your kid enters high school or is planning to get into a specific college.

They deal with a lot of things simultaneously, which makes them frustrated. They are teens, but they are just kids who are not habitual of dealing with a lot. Help them in whatever way you can.

Self-Esteem and Confidence

When your kid reaches the age of 14 or 15, he deals with body changes, bullying, peer pressure, academic problems, and social circle, which keeps changing as schools change or their friend switches schools, and there can be different scenarios.

It may result in depression or frequent mood swings, which is not good. Your kid may be struggling with psychological issues that can have drastic effects if not addressed on time.  

Substance Use And Addiction

You can’t protect them for everyone, and there will be a time in their life when they might be exposed to people who introduce them to substance use.

Kids often try it as a challenge, and before they know it, it becomes a habit. Kids also do it to feel that they belong or to look cool. The idea is to help them understand why it is dangerous.

Cyber Addiction

Today, kids spend most of their time on mobiles and laptops. They keep texting on their phones, and their social circle shrinks, not suitable for kids. It affects their eyes, mind, and overall health. 

Bullying

There is always a kid in school who is not fortunate enough to have kind and loving parents and turns into a bully.

These bullies target kids who are good-natured and understand moral values. Your kid can be a target for them.

Only good communication and your bond with your kids will help you learn if your kid is being bullied, so you can take action.

Underage Sex

If you don’t give them sex education on time, your kid may get into activities that are not right for their age.

Girls, especially if they engage in underage sex, feel like the odd one out because they did “it.” Refuse to refer to sex as a taboo and have an open conversation. 

Unplanned Teen Pregnancies

Teens start with “only kissing” sessions, and it doesn’t take long to become sexually active. They might not be ready for it, and if they are not careful, which they never are, it can result in an unplanned pregnancy.

Dealing with pregnancy is not a cakewalk for which both the boy and girl won’t be ready.

When your kid turns 16, tell them about sex, protection, and the repercussions of not being careful. Also, talk to them about STDs, so they are fearful enough.

Most of these issues are connected. For example, a child suffering from body image issues may suffer from eating disorders and depression. Which in turn, leads to addiction, substance abuse, and aggression.

Being a parent, you can play a crucial role in the development of the child. You must gently guide him/her to cope with the sudden changes and societal pressure in a positive manner.

However, the hormonal and emotional changes in the child may create some problems for you too. Here are some tips to deal with the common problems faced by parents of adolescent children.

Related Read: 3 Challenges Faced by Parents While Raising a Child and Tips to Overcome Them

What Can You Do To Help Them?

There are ways in which you can help your adolescent children to deal with their issues.

Identify Any Behavioral Changes

 

Identifying teen issues at an early stage will help you to guide the children towards healthy ways to handle their problems.

Changes in sleeping patterns, unusual eating habits, spending more time with mobiles, laptops, and other gadgets, reduced social activity, irritability, etc. are all symptoms of teen issues.

All these behavioral changes are signs of an underlying issue like stress, addiction, or mental health disorders. You have to observe the child very closely to notice any changes in behavior.

Transfer Age Appropriate Knowledge 

Hormonal changes and puberty are two main issues that lead to a lot of aggression and unwanted issues in teenagers.

Preteens and teenagers are curious to explore their bodies and learn about different concepts. This is the main reason they resort to deviant behavior, underage sex, alcohol consumption, and smoking.

If you want to dissuade the child from such risky behaviors, try to have open communication with them. Transferring knowledge in an age-appropriate manner will help them to get the right information from the right source.

Talk to the child about sex, addictions, and other topics to remove the taboo around them.

Have an open discussion with the child and explain everything in a scientific and easy-to-understand manner.

Make them aware of the risks involved and prepare a clear set of rules stating accepted and unaccepted behaviors.

Respect Their Opinions

Most teenagers crave validation. To address this issue, you have to respect their ideas and opinions and make them a part of the decision-making process.

Respecting their views helps to enhance the self-esteem of the child and is the key to avoiding confrontation.

Moreover, it also aids to overcome the problems faced by parents of adolescent children, like defiant behavior, lack of communication, and isolation.

Independence

Your kid wants to explore things on his own now. They want to create their own reality and learn by “doing”, not “listening” to you.

You have to loosen the ties, so they feel independent but protected. If things go south, they must feel that you are there, but don’t make them feel as if you are ready to pounce if they make a mistake.

Let them define their goals and work to achieve them. Act like their support and assist them.

Trust Your child

Like any other relationship, trust is the foundation stone for building a strong parent-child relationship.

You should never resort to spying, cross-checking, and doubting as these negative behaviors make the child lie, behave in a defiant manner, and steal.

Trust and acceptance help to develop positive traits in children.

Create a Rapport

Creating a strong bond is the solution to most of the problems faced by parents of adolescent children.

Work towards creating a good rapport with your child. Have open lines of communication, and find the right balance between being a parent and a friend.

This will make the child comfortable discussing any issues that are bothering him/her.

For example, research shows that most teenagers face abuse and bullying, but the majority of them suffer in isolation due to the fear of being ridiculed. This is where good communication with parents comes to play.

Having a good rapport with parents makes the child comfortable to come out in the open and discuss their problems. 

Seek Professional Help

Sometimes it is not possible to handle the stress of raising teens. in such a scenario, you can opt for professional help.

Consult counselors, doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists for proper guidance and support. Along with these professionals, you can also turn to experienced and older members of the family for additional help and support.

Enroll in Learning Programs

Experiential learning programs educate the child about society and the world at large. Learning about and experiencing different cultures allows the child to blossom into a well-rounded individual. 

Understanding the problems and finding out suitable ways to handle them will empower us to handle the routine problems faced by parents of adolescent children.

Whatever technique of parenting we follow, it is always helpful to have love, empathy, respect, trust, and complete acceptance towards the child. 

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