Knowing Your Teens Friends Can Improve Your Relationship

Knowing Your Teens Friends Can Improve Your Relationship

As parents we often struggle with being in our teens’ lives and balancing their need for freedom and autonomy. However, striking the balance, especially when it comes to knowing their friends, is a crucial part of the parent-teen contract. And, we should be considering a contract relationship because it is obligation to parent our teens, whether they like it or not, and we cannot do our jobs effectively without knowing who our teens are spending time with. It’s really that simple…putting it into practice maybe not so much.

Getting To Know Your Teen’s Friends

Knowing your teens’ friends is not an option. It is not over involvement or even helicopter parenting; it is meeting your responsibility as a parent. How you go about maintaining a relationship with your teens’ friends is probably going to be individual as your teens. No cookie cutter methods. If you know your child and you are looking for the right opening, getting to your teens’ friends can be as natural as getting to know your own friends.

Just Chillax—A Houseful Of Teenagers Doesn’t Have To Be Scary

There is no need for elaborate schemes or forcing your child to introduce every single one of their friends in a formal manner. Use your child’s own natural temperament as a tool to guide frequent and regular contact with their friends. Perhaps your daughter is naturally social so maybe you could ask her to invite her friends over for a backyard barbeque or girl’s night of makeovers or binge-watching their favorite show. This is not going to work for your bookish daughter or most sons, however. Make friend contacts according to your teen’s interests and there will be less chance of the “Really, whatever!” moments. When you have a houseful, make sure each teen knows what your ‘house rules’ are and then be prepared for them to test them. Should they push your boundaries, respond swiftly and make sure they know they are welcome to come back again as long as they agree to follow your rules. Additionally, make a point to interact with your teens’ friends in as many situations as possible.

Knowing Is Half The Battle

Raising teens today is hard enough without trying to deal with mystery friends. However, monitoring your teens’ friends is one of the simplest ways to spot potential danger early. When teens more from normal teen angst to more serious issues like drugs or alcohol, one of the earliest changes is a change in their crowd. It’s not foolproof of course because your teens can be involved with those things without changing friends. But, sudden changes in their circle should be an immediate red flag.

Should you suspect your teen or any of their friends are involved with substance abuse or other risky behaviors it is also your responsibility to notify parents and the authorities depending on the severity of the issue. If it is your child, the natural evolution of your responsibility as a parent is to seek help with your teen’s issues. The earlier you respond to troubled teen behavior the less likely it will morph into something from which they may not recover.

Request Free Admissions Information

Step 1 of 3 - Your Contact Info

Written by Natalie

30 Mar, 2016

Recent Posts

8 Signs of Depression in Teens

8 Signs of Depression in Teens

Has your teen’s behavior changed lately? Is your teen showing some signs of depression? It’s well-known that behavior changes can be possible during the teen years. Generally speaking, the symptoms of depression aren’t some of those expected behavior changes in teens....

Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder

Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder

For parents who have been struggling with a challenging teen, it can sometimes be a relief to get a diagnosis for those struggles and challenges finally. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) may sound intimidating when you first get the diagnosis for your teen, but...

At What Age Should a Teen Date?

At What Age Should a Teen Date?

The word ‘dating’ sends parental anxiety skyrocketing when teens explore their newfound freedom and discover relationships. This topic can cause parents to explode and teens to rebel. Before the situation escalates, creating clear expectations and guidelines for...

Helping Your Teen Learn Manners

Helping Your Teen Learn Manners

The future of a friendly, considerate teen with good manners will benefit greatly from your efforts to teach them good manners. Teens who behave well are respected more, which helps them academically and socially. Most parents tell their kids to say "please" and...

The ADHD Diet for Teens

The ADHD Diet for Teens

ADHD is a challenging condition for anyone to live with. But children and teens with ADHA have a particularly challenging time managing their lives. Their brains are not fully developed and they don’t have basic life skills or the ability to work through difficult...

How Teachers Can Help Teens With Anxiety Attacks

How Teachers Can Help Teens With Anxiety Attacks

As a teacher, you always have the health and well-being of your students in mind. With the return to the classroom, you’ve likely seen a few changes in your students. Not only do teens have to face the usual things that school can bring with it, like lots of homework...

You May Also Like…

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *