You aren’t looking to terrorize your teen, but you’re pretty sure your teen doesn’t take the dangers of this world seriously. And you would be right to think that.
Since teens’ brains won’t finish developing until 25 years old, most teens have a feeling of immortality and are more prone to act recklessly. So how to get through to them? We have some ideas on you may want to consider.
Teach Teens The Facts
Gone are the days where you can threaten the boogie man. A quick Google search will dispel any made-up statistics. However, there are many sobering facts you can use to help your teen understand serious topics.
For instance, maybe your teenage daughter is dressing in a manner that you find inappropriate, especially when you know she’s going to a party. Explain why you’re concerned, instead of having a knee-jerk reaction and telling her that girls dressed like her get assaulted and murdered.
To help make your point without running the risk of being disproved, bring in some outside resources. RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) has blunt statistics that will show your teen the scope of the problem and a section on safety and prevention.
If you are dealing with an especially troubled teen and need an extra hand, there are courses you can take to help you approach your teen and work with them.
Future Careers And Teens
As you help your teen understand the some of the external dangers the world has, you will want to consider other things adults run into that may not be considered “dangerous” but can ruin their lives.
As your teens start to consider the future, what happens when they decided they will go to college for a creative writing degree and become a novelist, expecting to become rich and famous? Or they will be a doctor because doctors make lots of money? By telling your child that they can do anything and be anything when they grow up, you may have been doing them a disservice.
You need to help them manage their expectations as you learned to adjust your expectations as a parent, because there are few things more crushing for a young college graduate only to realize they can’t pay their bills, let alone achieve their goals.
The reality of college for many students is that they will go into debt to get their education, and it won’t always pay off. The current U.S. student loan debt sits at 1.4 trillion dollars, and not all of that debt represents completed degrees.
Other dangers along those lines are:
- Credit card debt
- Debt collection
- Scammers
- Identity theft
Money won’t buy happiness for your teen, but not knowing how to manage money on their own can ruin their future. Your teen may not take money management seriously yet and it is up to you to make sure that they do.
One article isn’t going to make you an expert at this, but that’s why the Parent Learning Center is here for you.
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