5 Tips on how to raise your teenager successfully

Raising a teen is not as simple as you think. It takes a lot. especially time, effort and attention. The worst part of raising a teen is not knowing if you have done a good job until your teen is all grown up. So, in order for a parent to believe that they have been successful in raising a decent human being, they need to know that their teen will be places in their lives.

Lets take a look at some helpful tips that will help parents to raise their teenagers successfully...

• Keep your eyes on the prize. The main goal for every parent is to bring up a happy, successful human being who will have the best life. With that being said, it can often be simply impossible to do. At times you may want to give up on raising your teen, but always keep your goal in mind and this will help you and your teen through the tough times.

• Learn to communicate with your teen successfully. Communication surrounds everything we do, it goes so much deeper than just talking to your teens. It includes a need for parents to convey their unconditional love of their teen, employ a discipline that works for both the teen and parent, show a teen how to successfully use the world around them and more. Sometimes communication with teens means no communicating. By the time your child is a teen, parents should know body language that points to the fact that something is wrong - or something is right. But because your child is a teen, they might not share what is wrong or what is wrong may just be the growing pains of the teen years. Parents of teens will be willing to not bug their teen and just keep an ear out for when their teen does want to talk - and an eye out for any trouble.

• Build your teen's confidence and self-esteem. When your raise a confident young adult with a healthy self-esteem, they go on to do things in their lives that bring happiness and joy to themselves and those around them. They are not afraid to achieve or to do the work it takes to achieve their best. You can be less worried about what is going on in your teen's world when they have a strong self-esteem because that means they will be able to make the right choices.

• Support your teen's need for individuality. Children need time to become who they will be. We know people don't just start out being who they are. But parents do have a glimpse and can help guide their teen by supporting their teens choices in activities, hobbies and friends. Being available to drive your teen to practice, purchasing art supplies and seeking out opportunities for your teen to develop strong friendships are all things parents, who want to be successful at raising their teen, can do to support their teen's individuality.

• Employ fair and firm discipline. Discipline changes as your child grows up and becomes a teenager. But it doesn't stop. Your teen will still need your guidance and discipline. You will still need to say 'no'. You will still need to have consequences in place if your teen refuses to adhere to your family's rules. Basically, fair and firm discipline is you, the parent, creating a discipline plan for your teen that is fair to both of you and sticking to it using a firm and loving approach. When you employ the fair and firm discipline approach your teen will learn the value of doing what is right along with how to take responsibility for their actions. It's a win-win that leads directly to raising your teen successfully.

NICRO is committed to turning lives around - We encourage all South Africans not to stand back, but become involved either by donating a monthly amount, a once-off donation or look at the NICRO wish list for support in kind for around the country and see how you can assist.