Parents invent these rationalization so they don't have to do their job. "Just let the kid do what they feel like doing - it's good for them". |
So are you saying a parents job is to forbid your teens from dating or having any relationships while they live under your roof? |
The teacher did not say that. What were you reading? LOL Parenting changes daily. You pick your battles. The job of a teen is going from child to adult and we are supposed to help guide them. Not snowplow and certainly not to outright forbid. It’s teaching compromise. Sone days they act like toddlers. Some days they need help. Other days they want independence and push their limits. We balance. I allow my teens to date but I am certainly not going to allow them being alone, hang out in bedrooms, buy lavish gifts or go on more adultish dates. But I am also not naive to realize that kids don’t make the best decisions and I watch relationships closely and have good open dialogue with my kids. Heartbreak is tough, just like OP said but watching my teens navigate the ups and downs of life and becoming adults is honestly a joy. If I belittled them, decreased their voices or dictating all of their decisions I know they would struggle once alone in college. So it’s a balance we work on and communicate and change as needed. |
this was maybe cute the first time, now it's just a very stale cliche. no, "the job of the teen is not become adult". that will happen regardless. it sounds like you are getting some kind of a high from participating in your teen's love life. |
Exactly!! Raising teens and being involved in their lives is a lot of work. It isn't setting such hardfast rules that kids can't feel like they can communicate or have a voice with their parents. But it also isn't letting teens walk all over you. |
Yes, it is. For parents who would actually care about that happening. Maturity comes from experiences and not just handpicked hot house experiences that your parents created for you. |
i am sorry? i am an accomplished adult and a mother to 3 kids. so are my siblings. we all have very close relationships with each other (and our parents... though they have since passed). in every singled respect, my parents did an outstanding job raising us. and yet - my parents never spouted that nonsense about our job being to grow up. they actually cared, and not just followed the latest fad. |
because if your teen does give a BJ in HS, they have no experience. |
Maybe English isn't your first language? When people say that, they mean that kids when they reach adulthood, should have some experience enough to function as adults to some degree. We don't mean dragging out growing up into the mid 20s with the emeshment that is common in some families. No need to take it personally |
You know you are trashy, right? I can see that dear motivated how you raised your kids. |
| * fear |
Not the PP but a teen is LITERALLY the transition from childhood to adulthood. Your job as a parent is to help guide them into mentally-stable strong-minded functioning adults. As kids hit puberty and enter their teen years, they go through a lot. Their strong desire to have their own friendships, relationships, and a mind of their own. But having the support of a home and family to be there to guide them makes it much easier. If you are infantilizing your teens and making all of their rules and decisions when do they start transitioning to adulthood? The day you drop them off at college? I just don’t understand parents who think that would work. Have we not seen this generation lack communication skills, street smarts, autonomy, poor work ethic, and terrible at face to face relationships with friends, teachers, family, and yes even potential relationships. Have we not seen sky high percentages of anxiety and depression in teens? Guide them, encourage them, let them know when they are going down wrong paths but you can’t mold them yourselves. You can’t force a certain lifestyle on them. I just don’t get it. So unhealthy. |
Not you being defensive, realizing your way of parenting is ick. So you retort with a completely irrational comment to validate your poor parenting. Kudos!! |
what does that have to do with me? the results you are seeing are kids driving the bus and parents saying "nothing can be done!" "kids will do it anyway!" "if you restrict it, they won't talk to you anymore!". in contrast, i am raising my own kids the way my parents raised me and my siblings. and you know what that looked like? no, they didn't allow me to date. they told me what to study (in college) and i lived with them while doing it. i did zero chores at home and i never worked a day/earned a dime working. i never baby sat or washed my clothes. i didn't learn how to drive. and you know what else happened? i immigrated to the USA (my first ever visit to this continent) at age 22 and made my life here from scratch. i got an ivy league phd, a husband and 3 kids, multiple jobs, a house or two, a citizenship. no, you don't become adult buy playing adult. and this is what your teens and college kids are doing - they are doing some pleasant adult stuff (freedom! sex! decisions!) but not paying the cost of it (financial independence). so this is actually a type of regression rather than growth. it certainly is not adulthood. as a teen, you need parents who can direct you rather than make you lead because they are scared you won't like them. and when you want to be adult, when you are actually ready for it, you get the whole package. all the freedom in the world to do whatever you want to do, but on your own dime. an actual adulthood. |
Sorry, Ivy League or not (typical that you woudl mention that) your upbringing is not one we aspire to for our kids (and it's not because they are great at BJs )
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