Parenting through different phases can be demanding: teething, ear infections, potty training. When they become teens, it will knock your socks off! After having four children, one might think we have this parenting thing down. Wrong!! We kind of had the baby, toddler thing figured out for a time. Then our second was born with a completely different personality, and then our third with medical complications, and our fourth who was well, our fourth. Each child has been wildly different, wonderful, and challenging in their own ways. Fast forward a decade or so, and you have the teen years. The moment we call an audible and say we have absolutely no idea what we are doing. Missing homework assignments, chronically messy rooms, questionable choices. Now this parenting thing is getting real. Where do we turn for guidance? Does the Bible tell us how to guide our kids as we manage travel soccer schedules? Which Biblical truths calm our spirits in the passenger seat while our teen is behind the wheel for the first time? God cares about us in this stage. God cares about Snapchat, Tik Tok, and our teens. He has the wisdom to guide us through these critically important years for our kids.
The next truth nuggets in this series on Parenting teens are:
2) Love keeps no record of wrongs-1 Corinthians 13:5
Forgive quickly and restore your relationship with your teens after conflict. You represent God’s love to them. Yes, have high expectations and consequences for disrespect, failing grades, and lying. But let your teens know you love them, you forgive them, you believe in them.
3) Bless with your words
Bless your teens with positive affirmation, notice when they do things well. Praise them when they exhibit attributes you hope to see developed in them more. By doing this, you help them to see who God created them to be and what they are gifted in. I am learning to bless the positive rather than criticize the negative. When our children are young, we are constantly telling them to put on a coat, eat their breakfast, brush their teeth. It is our inherent role to help them set routines in their lives to be healthy, productive humans. Now that they are becoming their own person, you have done your job well. It is time to let go and let them test out what they know already. Then when we see they are doing it, we praise and we bless them to keep them going on the right path. This is a practice done all through Scripture. In the Old Testament, Jacob blessed his twelve sons, Genesis 1:28. God also blessed Jesus saying, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.”(Mark 1:11) There are numerous books that provide guidance on how to bless others, especially your children, along with studying this concept throughout the Bible.
Leave a comment about blessing and forgiving our teens. What other truth nuggets do you have on this topic?
