As a parent of teen boys, I long to know how to raise teenagers with confidence and joy. In today’s post, Connie Albers shares what to do when your parenting style doesn’t work anymore. Read more to learn how to parent in a way that builds your relationship.
Let’s face it, parenting teens can be a trying time. We all want to know how to parent teenagers effectively. If you are a parent of teens, or even of young children who will become teens, and want to effectively guide them rather than managing them, today is the perfect show for you.
In a day and age when social media makes comparison all too tempting and easy, all the reasons you are a great mom may not be the first thoughts that come to your mind. We can be prone to listing our faults faster and longer than we can fill a grocery list on a holiday weekend. But those messages you tell yourself about how inadequate you are, and how you fear the mistakes you have made will scar your precious children for life are lies from the enemy of your soul. We’ve all been there. We’ve all fallen prey to the lying whispers of our enemy. God bestowed upon you the gift of mothering your particular children because you were the best one to steward, guide, and love them. God knew you would be an amazing mom! That’s why He picked you.
With one son a sophomore in high school, and another son a sophomore in college and in all likelihood never returning to live under our roof, I think about how fast the time has gone.
I recently searched for family photos for a project I was working on, and as I did, the years raced through my mind. Didn’t we bring them home from the hospital yesterday? It seemed like just a few days ago they learned to walk, talk, and ride a bike. How is it possible that our oldest is quickly approaching the launch into his career and our youngest is preparing to apply to college?
Maybe you’ve never done this, and maybe it’s just me, but I suddenly became very insecure in my mothering.
I had no idea how hard it would be to watch him walk away. In all the years of raising my son, I never thought about how painful it would be when he left home. A delight in our home, and the maker of many a “family chuckle,” his mere presence would be deeply missed as he began a new life 1500 miles from home.
This.
This is what we’ve raised him for, for the last 19 years: to give him wings to not only fly (figuratively and literally in his case as he pursues a career as a pilot), but to soar. To follow the dream God instilled in his heart, and watch him make his way in the world.
But…
