Thursday, July 15, 2010

It takes a village

It's so easy to referee from the bleachers.
Even so, I called for a huddle this morning.
After listening to a friend confide about her rebellious teen (17), I slept on it and then emailed my two cents worth of advice.  In the end, I hope it's worth a little more than that.
My qualifications?  Not much--N and I have raised two teens.  We rallied through some challenges.  Oh, and I was that rebellious teen.  And while I know it doesn't give me any particular insight into every rebellious teen, it does give me a slightly different view of the problem.
Since this child is three years from the end of her term as a teen, my suggestion was to take her on an overnight college tour. Explain that this is mom and dad's hope for her, but getting to the finish line is all up to her.  My thought is she needs a reason to change course.  So much of rebellion is a child punishing their parents for whatever reason.
And now I'm curious, what kind of advice would you give to these parents?

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