My Teen Won’t listen to my advice.

Parenting Teens

My Teen will not listen to me what should I do?

Parenting advice from The Hoff

Forgive yourself- You are Human.

OK, I have to admit it, I am a Living TV fan and since watching “At Home with the Hasselhoffs”, have become a Hoff Fan. I know it is sad, but there was just something about watching Michael Hasselhoff on holiday with his family which felt unscripted and real and a welcome break from all other TV shows. It is so nice to see a star really cherishing his family and wanting to spend time with them. I thought it was a real triumph for the family vibe, despite what you think of him.

I loved what he said at the end of the show…

“My job is to be a great parent, but it is not easy as I am human!”

I thought that said it all….it is hard and our only job ever really is to be a good parent. It reminds me of another quote (I cannot remember who said it!)

“Today I only have to fail better than I did yesterday”

I love this as it takes away the need to be perfect, which we all love!

As long as we don’t make the same mistake again and again, life is good.

Bad teens ‘not fault of parents’

Bad behaviour among teenagers is not the fault of parenting getting worse, say researchers.

Finally some sense coming from the UK. A recent study has found – shock horror! Bad teens may not be down to bad parenting.

The study found:

70% of young people were regularly spending time with their mothers in 2009 compared to 62% in 1986 – and the time spent with fathers had risen from 47% to 52%.

Parents are also  more likely to have a tighter control on their children’s movements.

In 1986, 79% of  parents expected to know where their children were going, which had risen to  85% in 2009.

There was also an increase in parents wanting to know what their teenage children were doing – up from 47% to 66%.

However, researchers found that young people were increasingly reliant on their parents, living with them  for longer, which can make parenting more stressful.

There had been a  particular increase in depression among parents in one-parent and low-income  families – with a 50% increase in parents of the poorest families with  depression between 1986 and 2009.

“It seems  that many aspects of parenting may have improved, but parents can’t do it all on their own”, said Professor Gardner. “We now  have to consider whether external influences, such as peer pressure or wider cultural influences are playing a part, given the rising number of young people  with problem behaviour in the UK today,” he added.

However I have a word of caution here. Firstly, are the sort of families that spend quality time
with their kids the sort of families where bad behaved teens come from? Secondly, is it that we are spending more time or is it that we are hovering and not giving our children freedom to be kids?

What do you think?

Read Bad teens ‘not fault of parents’

Teens driving you mad during the Summer

Parents worry about summer costs

Six in 10 parents are worried about the cost of keeping their children busy in the school holidays, a survey suggests.

By now I can imagine that a lot of Parents In the U.K. out there already want the holidays to be over. Coaching your teenagers is most likely the furthest thing from your mind. Occupying your children and teenagers can be very challenging. So what I want to suggest is that you use this time constructively that you use it to build on your relationship in a way that is going to support you having more impact and influence on them later.

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The Power of a Relationship.

You can change a child’s life

Adults who work with teens you really do have a very important job. You hold in your hands the power to change a teenagers life – no really – listen up!

Recently I have realised that when all is said and done, I stand for one thing and one thing only and that is, “The amazing impact a positive and healthy relationship between adults and teenagers can have on the world. I believe that if we all improved our relationships if only by 5% then the world would be a better place.”

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Teens bring out the worst in you

Parenting brings up your stuff

It was so funny the other day as I experienced the stark reality of most people’s view of young people. One of my pals, known her for ages, put out an innocent request on Facebook asking for parents of teens to get in touch because she wanted to discuss something. What she got back was amazing; most were wishing her the best, telling her how awful things were and it would get better, others giving her masses of advice on boundaries, etc. and I think there was even a few lock ‘em up ’til they’re 21 type of comments….I simply asked what was up and lets chat.

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