In the lives of your children, there are always going to be things that you’re worried about for them and safety concerns that you have to learn how to tackle together. When your children are younger, you generally have a lot more control over the lives of your kids. But as they move into their teenage years, you’re forced to let go a bit and rely on the skills and knowledge that you’ve been able to teach them in the years leading up to this point. So before you find yourself with a teen who’s ready to be more independent, here are three pieces of advice that you should instill in your children to help keep them safe when you’re not around.
Underage Drinking Can Have Serious Repercussions:
For many teens, drinking quickly becomes part of the social scene that they get into before they’re actually of legal drinking age. And while your teens might know that drinking before they are the legal age could get them in trouble with the law, there are other reasons why underage drinking is a serious problem. For example, drinking could lead to your teen getting behind the wheel of a car and causing an accident, seriously hurting or even killing someone. Additionally, Camille Peri, a contributor to WebMD, shares that drinking before your 21-years-old could cause long-term changes to the still-developing brain of teens. So rather than just telling your teens not to drink, make sure you share with them the legitimate reasons why underage drinking should be taken seriously.
Always Tell Someone Where You’re Going:
Once someone becomes a teenager, it’s natural for them to want to be more independent and step away from the eyes of their parents occasionally. However, just because teens think they’re ready to handle everything on their own doesn’t mean they actually are prepared to do this. For this reason, Sagari Gongala, a contributor to MomJunction.com, advises that you teach your children to always tell somewhere where they’re going. Ideally, they should be required to talk to their parents and ask for permission. But at the very least, they should inform someone or leave a note so that someone knows where they are in the event of an emergency. This principle should remain in place throughout the college years and beyond, too.
Learn How To Say “No”
With so much technology all around us, teenagers are connecting to various individuals online, through social media as well as private chats. It is important that parents teach them about issues like sexual exploitation and identifying dangerous elements on the web that are looking for ways to harm them emotionally, psychologically, and sexually. Identifying what is good behavior and what is something that should be avoided at all times is very important. If this is not addressed and the teenager falls victim to an indecent act, then they can have traumatic experiences about the same for a very long time. You should visit digital platforms that put out news that inform teenagers of criminals and how they operate.
Pressure comes at people from all angles, regardless of their age. But for teens, withstanding social pressures can be a bit more challenging. So to help your teens be prepared for uncomfortable situations that they might find themselves in, Rebecca Perkins, a contributor to the Huffington Post, suggests that you teach your kids how to say “no” without feeling like they need to defend their decision. If your kids can feel comfortable saying “no” as a complete sentence, they will be able to better stand up to what others might try to persuade them to do.
If you have a child who’s about to become a teenager, consider speaking to them about the advice mentioned above to help keep them safer when they’re on their own.
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