Grab a Starbucks, an iced tea or a glass of wine (if you’re raising teens you might need it), and let’s chat awhile!
Describing what it’s like to raise teens today is the parallel of describing a great movie at the theater – action-packed, riveting, unpredictable, enjoyable, surprising and sometimes, pretty darn comical. But, every once in a while even the most well-intended movies deliver a crummy review – wacky, dramatic, senseless, tiresome and, yup… even moderately flawed. Either way, our teens keep us on the edge of our seat! As soon as we think we have it all figured out, we’re thrown another curveball. And, it’s easy to understand why…
The way teens are being raised today is absolutely nothing like the way we were raised. With such a huge disparity between the generational influences, we don’t have a lot of experience to draw from or history to base our decisions on.
When I was a teenager, I ran around the neighborhood ’til midnight with my friends and my parents didn’t think twice about it. I was gone for 9-10 hours at a stretch and, again, my parents didn’t think twice about it. If I got a “C” on a test, my parents patted me on the back with a big smile and said “great job” because they had the comfort of knowing I was “average,” which was the best they could hope for. It was a very different time.
Today, the fast-paced world of instant messaging, the massive influence of social media, academic pressure that begins far too early, less “down time” (for both teens and parents), the pressure to be good at absolutely everything, the pervasiveness of drugs, the power of celebrity influence and so much more is enough to put us and our kids into overdrive. Heck, with a click of a button, today’s teens can find out what Kim Kardashian had for breakfast. (Do we really care what Kim Kardashian had for breakfast?)
Raising Teens Today is a place where we can, together, share our journey as we raise our teens. A place where we’ll shed interesting and valuable insight, answer compelling questions, ponder the “what if’s,” and relish in the moments that make it all worthwhile. We’ll draw from the experts and even share a few personal stories along the way. Here, we’re all friends! I hope you’ll kick back, relax and stay awhile! And remember, if you’d like, take a moment to subscribe to Raising Teens Today via email so you’ll never miss a new post!
Thanks for stopping by!
~ nancy ~