Every teen is an individual
Every parent may have their own style of parenting. There is no way that one particular style could be chosen among the rest as the best, because every child can be seen as an individual. Because of this simple fact, you shouldn’t feel pressured by all the advice that you may receive concerning parenting a troubled teen. But it’s important to take it all in and assess for yourself what tips or strategies may be useful in your context, while at the same time discerning what tips may not apply to your teenager.
Leave room for change
When learning about new techniques or tips, it is a good idea to always leave room for change. A certain parenting technique needn’t be executed exactly as it is written down. If adolescence were full of constants, then maybe parenting could be down to an exact science by now. But no, it isn’t.
In fact, adolescence is known for its many variables. It’s a stage of change—changing bodies and minds. So don’t expect to follow a certain strategy down to the dot of an i and feel outraged when you don’t get the desired outcome or response from your teen.
The main point here is to take in any information that may be useful and apply these ideas wherever they may see fit. You needn’t hesitate in changing certain factors in a technique or strategy in order to mold it to your individual teen. This may lead to a solution better than any book or article can provide, one tailor-made to suit your teenager.
Kinds of parenting styles
Generally speaking, two main kinds of parenting styles can be recognized: short-term parenting and long-term parenting. Short-term parenting can be described as disciplinary, permissive, or neglectful. The long-term parenting style is primarily characterized by firmness and kindness. Short-term parenting is normally used in response to a teenager acting up.
His or her wrong actions result in an immediate response of parenting wherein the parent may either neglect the action altogether or otherwise discipline or be permissive of his or her action. The firmness and kindness which characterize long-term parenting represent the special balance required from an effective parenting style.
A good guiding principle to keep in mind no matter what your parenting style is to seek balance. An easy way to notice if your parenting style has problems is by being aware of balance in the nature of your parenting style. This rule of the mean can be beneficial in assessing the effectiveness of your style of parenting a troubled teenager.
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