Parenting First Aid - Support for Parenting an Adolescent

Parenting is a tough, tangled, tremendous project. It’s an often confusing, constantly changing, rewarding, amazing role. But it has changed significantly in the last twenty years, from “command” parenting to “consent” parenting. And it’s tough to know whether we are doing the right things for our children, because their feedback to us is emotionally biased, amateurly delivered, and inconsistent as they get older. Plus, there are dozens of theories of parenting approaches, styles, and cultural nuances that are also changing over time.

As our children age into adolescence, we need to grow with them, adapting different parenting tools and ways of communicating our changing expectations. We also need to be the parent our child needs, and not the parents we had. And that can be difficult to unlearn, especially in the middle of a conflict. Both our kids and ourselves can get bumped and bruised and hurt in the transition from young childhood to young adulthood. Sometimes, the family needs a little “first aid” to help them heal and move forward.

First Aid and Mental Health spelled in blocks

The Most Important Factors in Parenting

We differ between the ranking of each of these, but essentially, these are the primary goals of parenting:

Love and Affection

Providing a Safe Environment

Discipline and Rules

Transmitting Family and Cultural Values

As parents, we also need support and reassurance to stabilize us and build perseverance. We need advice, we need tools, and we need ...healing from the wounds we carry from our own childhood experiences and disappointments. And we need protection, almost like a “verbal vitamin” from the hurts and disappointments and conflicts within our own families.

And parents need tools they can use right away. Here are some helpful resources to use in tandem with psychotherapy.