Everything changes when your angel-faced little one starts growing up and hits puberty. While every child is different, parents are often faced with new challenges, including schooling issues, concerns about their child’s future, relationships, mental health, physical changes, and the frustration of loving someone who is not yet an adult but wants to be treated like an adult. Parenting teens can feel isolating or unique. You may feel like you are on an island fighting a dragon by yourself. However, millions of parents face many of the same issues and feel just as frustrated or helpless.
Here are three amazing resources for the parents of adolescents to help them get through the teen years.
1. Empowerly
Empowerly have established themselves as college admissions experts. They will help your teen with college counseling, essay editing, test prep, tracking admission deadlines, and much more. They will help walk you and your teen through the college application process. They can alleviate a lot of the stress you or your teen may feel about getting into college. While the college admissions process can feel overwhelming, thousands of high school students go through it every year, and the counselors at Empowerly can help you through it.
The first step is your teen’s idea of what they want to do for a career when they grow up because they will guide them in what colleges to look at and what kinds of standardized tests they may need to take to get into college. Once they know what they want to do, they can start looking at colleges that will help them get to their career and see what is required for admission. Every college has a slightly different admissions process, and Empowerly can help keep everything organized and your teen on track.
2. Michelle Mitchell
If you need a guide to puberty, look no further than Michelle Mitchell. She has used her years of experience to empower and support parents of adolescents to get through the difficult years that often include physical changes, growth spurt, acne, and hormone changes. Adolescents can be hard on their parents. Michelle Mitchell provides practical advice and education, so parents can better understand what their teen is going through and how they can be supportive and loving. Her education can enhance a parent’s relationship with their adolescent and allow them to become their child’s ally as well as their parent.
You might be thinking you went through adolescence, so you know what it is like. Unfortunately, the world has changed, and being a teen is different these days. Plus, puberty is different for everyone, so your child may not experience it the same way you did. Being open-minded is a critical part of being a great parent. Being willing to learn more will show your teen how much your relationship with them matters to you and that even if you make mistakes, you are trying to be the best parent possible.
3. NAMI
NAMI stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness, and they have a wealth of articles, information, workshops, and support for teens, young adults, and parents. While many of the things your teen may be experiencing are perfectly normal, understanding the signs of mental illness is critical to ensuring your teen is developing safely and healthily. According to NAMI, 50 percent of lifetime mental illnesses develop by the age of 14. Seventy-five percent of lifetime mental illnesses are developed by the age of 24. This includes everything from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to depression and anxiety.
Educating yourself on the signs and symptoms of mental health problems will make you better prepared as a parent. It will also help you connect better with your teen as they see your willingness to learn and talk openly with them about problems.