January 03, 2005
New Year's Resolutions for Parents of Teens
The start of the year is a great time to review what you’ve been doing as a parent and implement some changes or new tools. I’ve put together the following resolutions as a kind of menu that you can look through and pick from. These encompass a lot, so to increase your success and focus, you might pick just one and stay with that one all year.
New Year’s Resolutions for Parents of Teens
1. Resolve not to do too much for your son this year. Let him learn and grow.
2. Resolve to let your son struggle. Don’t rush in to fix the situation, whether it’s an emotional or physical situation in which he finds himself.
3. Resolve to build a bigger community that includes men who care about your son. Invite more men into your life. Provide opportunities for your son to be with high quality men.
4. Resolve to increase or deepen the friendships you have so that your support can come from someone other than your kids and your spouse. Socialize for your own well-being.
5. Resolve to have limits. Get clear on your own personal ethics and values and resolve not to act outside of them.
6. Resolve to take care of your children’s needs, not their desires or wants. Parent for the long view of their life. (This involves use of the word “no.”)
7. Resolve to have food in the refrigerator for your kids to prepare, rather than give them money for fast food.
8. Resolve to have fun at home with and without your children. Board games, horseshoes, darts, pool, jigsaw puzzles, dominos, cards, movie nights all create opportunities to have intimacy without intrusion.
