The moment a teen feels she is in control of her life, she will begin to be responsible. But sometimes just giving that control too is not enough.
My parents had given me immense control and freedom over my life and yet I remember how I kept pushing the limits of that freedom. Much later, as a parent myself, I often asked them how come they were so comfortable with me having all that freedom and clearly not making the best use of it. They would say its not that they were always comfortable, but when they were uncomfortable they just did two things very well. One, they persisted with their resolve to let me have the freedom and two, they hid their disappointment from me.
In our impatience, in our hurry to get things done, we are all too keen to let our disappointments show. And in that lies the reason why sometimes our teenage kids feel they don't really have the freedom we say they do.
My parents had given me immense control and freedom over my life and yet I remember how I kept pushing the limits of that freedom. Much later, as a parent myself, I often asked them how come they were so comfortable with me having all that freedom and clearly not making the best use of it. They would say its not that they were always comfortable, but when they were uncomfortable they just did two things very well. One, they persisted with their resolve to let me have the freedom and two, they hid their disappointment from me.
In our impatience, in our hurry to get things done, we are all too keen to let our disappointments show. And in that lies the reason why sometimes our teenage kids feel they don't really have the freedom we say they do.
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