Evaluating the importance of the teen/parent relationship – Part 1

Importance of a teen/parent relationship…. Nothing could ever be more necessary? OK yeah, my two children, 5 and 8, need a relationship with my wife and I, and yes, they will when they are adults. If you have a good relationship with them when they are little, its good, but it isn’t like a 8 year old really “Needs” a parent to keep them from doing wrong. I really haven’t seen any preteens out getting pregnant, doing drugs, or working in a sleazy club. When a child becomes a teen, they HAVE TO have BOTH parents to not be a friend, they NEED them to be parents. Which isn’t to say that you can not also be a friend. Its the friends they have outside of their house the parents need to guard the children from. Even being raised by only my Mom, with her working 16 hours a day 6 days a week, she was able to discern that some of my friends were unsuited for me. Looking back now, everyone she said were keepers, were. and I truly believe she was dead to Rights to keep me from staying friends with, ironically, the crowd who never made it to their Senior year of High School. If my Mom had turned a blind eye to me and the choices I made, I with 99% certainty, would not have graduated. Now, understand this, I told my Mom the truth almost always. I kept VERY few things from her. The only lies I told her, were out of shame. The shame of letting her down. A parent is just that, a parent. If you keep open, honest conversation with your children, and only shelter them from things they are too young to handle, as they grow up, they should keep open and honest with their parents. Granted there are no guarantees that the previous statement is always true. I do know how I turned out. I had morals instilled by my Dad, but at a rate of 50:1 to my Mom. If you ask this parent, having a relationship with my (too soon to be) teenage children, is a requirement. Having a open and honest relationship with them then is a necessity .