When is failure an option?

I love what John Maxwell says, “If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibilities on their shoulders.”

Have you found parenting teenagers similar to parenting “the terrible twos”?  Good News.  You will survive it!   We talk about the 9^th grade year being one of transition.  It is not only for your student but for you. 

“Mom, can I ride with ____________ to the game?”

“How is school?”  “Fine.”

“I want to stay at __________________’s house.”  “Will __________’s parents be home?” 

“MOM…”

Sound familiar?  When do you let go and when do you tighten the reins?  Each student is different.  This is the time students should be taking on more responsibility.  It’s perfectly ok for them for them to have chores at home.  It’s perfectly ok for them to be doing their own laundry.  They will quickly learn about separating whites and colors after the first pink underwear shows up.

We are in the middle of our 2^nd 9 weeks of school.  Some of our kids have struggled in a class.  This is a great opportunity to coach them on being successful.

1.    Coach them to talk with their teachers/counselor/administrators about their grade or anything they don’t agree with.

2.    Coach them to ask for help.

3.    Coach them it’s ok not to get it everything right the first time.

4.    Coach them to do something different.

5.    Coach them to keep trying.

Failure is an option only when we learn from it and do differently next time.  If we want grounded adults, we have to teach them to be responsible teenagers (without killing them first J).