Here is some parenting advice to help you get through.



Deal with situations as they appear. Don't worry unnecessarily about what all can go wrong. Learn to trust your child but be there for him when he needs you. Accept the fact that parents and books can teach only so much; the rest they will learn from life's experiences.

Don't stress, there are some easy and simple ways to make the teenage growing years as painless as possible and provide the positive environment your teen needs to become all they can be as an adult.

Treating your child as an adult essentially means giving more freedom and putting more responsibility on him. When you treat your child as an adult you give him the respect of an equal.

An easy way to do this is to extend curfew, or include them in more adult conversations. If children and adults eat separately during holidays, set a place for your teen at the adult table. Or invent the young adult table, if there are enough similarly aged teenagers.

This way your child can feel that while he or she is not yet an adult, they are not being viewed as a child, either. This bit of parenting advice can head off child behavior and child discipline problems.

Give your teen child discipline decision making power. Let your teen make more child behavior decisions. Let them know you are available for guidance but that the decision is theirs to make. For example, a school trip; let your teen know they are welcome to go or not as they choose, rather than saying they can't go or they have to go.

A common problem that teenagers face is that they have more energy than they can expend in the daily routine. You can suggest that they take up a part time job. It will keep them busy and also help them earn extra money. They will surely learn to respect their parents? efforts once they step into their shoes to work and make money.

As a parent it is your duty to help your child face the real world in every possible way. All you have to keep in mind is that your child may think he has grown up but you have to be there for him, although in the background, so that you are there when he needs you. After all, the real world is so different from the protected environment your child has grown up in.