Resource To Life

First, let’s define what a strong willed teenager is. Strong willed teens absolutely loathe the word “No”. I was a very strong-willed teen, and I always wanted my way. Naturally, this mindset and approach to live is very unhealthy and can only lead to disappointment. Here is the upside though. A strong willed teen has the ability to lead nations, or lead gangs. They are so powerful, but they lack the necessary tools and help to effectively handle life and life’s let downs. Is your teen strong-willed?

Don’t Blame Yourself for Your Strong Willed Teen

The headline says it all, but please know that none of this is your fault. Will the future of raising your teenager be a tough one? You betcha. You can learn, or already have the necessary wisdom to raise a strong-willed child. The next two points you HAVE to implement now to regain more control of your strong willed teen.

Establish Authority

If you child is tween (pre-teen) or still a child, you have to take strides to establish authority in your household. Your child does need to know who is in charge even if they don’t like it. Chances are, your strong willed teen will not like it. God knows I didn’t. BUT, with authority, and with the implementation of the next tip, you really can learn a lot about parenting a strong willed teen, and how to do it lovingly and with authority as the leader of your home

How Do You Respond to Your Strong Willed Teen?

Now this goes a bit deeper into you as a parent. You parent and I believe you parent very well. Why else would you be here? For that I commend you. As parents, we–myself included–will ALL FALL SHORT. We can never be the perfect parent. IMPOSSIBLE. So, I don’t know how you respond right now to your teen, but your response is key to overcoming any circumstance with your strong willed teen. The circumstances might always change, but your response needs to be one based off of values and beliefs that you have firmly communicated with your strong willed teen.

For example, you and your teen begin arguing. Your teen is cussing at you! As a parent, you naturally are fueled, and ready to cuss back or even do something worse. I mean, they’re your kid right? They’d better respect you. BUT, instead, control your reaction, because patience is how love reacts, kindness is how love acts. And, make sure you’ve clearly communicated with your strong willed teen about your family’s values. That value might be, no matter what, we do not scream and cuss at each other in this home. Be sure that you follow the rules as well. All to often, the kid can’t yell at the parents, but the parents yell and cuss all day at their kids. I’d imagine that strong willed teens are reacting to “tense” situations the way they have seen their parents react.

Maybe you are asking yourself, “Why is my teen cussing me out?”. Your answer might be, “Wow, I cuss out my teen”. Then again it might not. But now you can…

• Tell your strong willed teen to come back when they are ready to control themselves.
• Tell your teen to speak kindly to you because you are speaking kindly to your teen.
• Go back to the situation at a later point.

My encouragement to you in your journey parenting a strong willed teen, is to start noticing how you respond to your teen. Your response can’t cure any situation or circumstance, but your response is very, very effective.

Focus on the family is a christian organization. I came across a product they have for parenting strong willed teens. I”m going to be up front and honest with you, I have not reviewed it so I don’t know anything about it. I do recommend checking it out and see if it is something you might want to use to parent your teen. If not, remember, how you respond to a strong willed teen can hurt, or build up your teen.