My Teen & Me: Building Healthy Relationships One Step at a Time

Did you feel a yearning to understand what you believed and what you wanted to do with your life as a teenager? Are you still feeling it now? This seems to be a thought we have while progressing through life and usually begins during adolescence. Self-identity allows us to be “active agents in choosing, altering, and modifying” our identity to become our best selves in our personal and cultural lives (Kroger, 2004, p. 4). As children become adolescents, their bodies develop adult features and their brains begin to think in more complex and abstract ways than ever before (Arnett, 2018; Wallis & Dell, 2004). In other words, they begin to question who they are and how they will fit into society. Cultural and Peer Influence The peer group is an important avenue through which a teenager transitions from their family to the wider adult society (Dunphy, 1963). This allows adolescents to view and experience a more complex world than the family can provide. In this way, friends

As your teenagers are given more responsibility, so should their independence increase. Research has shown that it is crucial for adolescents to have a chance to develop their autonomy instead of having their parents be intrusive or over controlling (ACT for Youth, n.d.). Foltz’s research found that children cannot learn accountability when their parents are overprotective. He explains that adolescents develop their autonomy as they decipher their own thoughts and ideas through personal space. He warns parents to not revert in limiting space for punishment because the limited freedom will actually make their teenager resist more (2011). What are some ways that will help you improve your relationship with your teen as you try to find the balance between helicopter parenting and permitting independence? It can seem like teenagers get out of hand and off in their own world, but they are learning how to manage life on their own. Here are a few ways to rein in your space cadet while still