The past couple of weeks my husband and I have been enjoying a video series at our church, “Running the Rapids” by Dr. Kevin Leman. It is about guiding teenagers through the turbulent waters of adolescence, comparing river rafting to parenting.
It is very lighthearted, informational and inspiring. I am one of those moms who can easily admit that I need all the help I can get.
One of the things he said early on in the video series was that the teenage years can be the best. Isn’t it more often that we look upon these years with dread?
Sometimes I think it’s all about the mindset. If you go into it with a sense of dread or having this “doomsday” mentality, you are likely to live it out. But if you can try and keep things in perspective, learn how to laugh and pick your battles…it really doesn’t have to be such a terrible thing.
Will it be easy? I will be the first to tell you no. But can you still enjoy it? Yes, you can.
This week there was something in particular that Dr. Leman said which really stood out to me. It’s that as parents we have to be willing to learn as we go along.
If there is one stage in parenting that you can sometimes feel the most clueless about, it is during the teen years. You just never know what new challenge will be waiting for you around the corner.
I have lost all sense of thinking I “know” the answers to anything pertaining to teens. There are so many factors that will play into a situation, that one can’t be compared to another.
I am definitely learning as I go along. When at one time I thought I knew how something would be handled or how I would respond to a situation, I have done otherwise. It is an interesting learning process, as I tend to be the type who likes to be prepared.
About the only thing you can prepare for when you have teenagers is to be unprepared. But that doesn’t mean you are some mindless parent who just wings it. It’s realizing that the unexpected will happen but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
The teenage years really can be enjoyable!
Related Articles:
As a Parent We Are Always Learning
Parenting by the Seat of Your Pants
Photo by nukeit1 in Flickr