Collaborative Post
As a parent you try to cherish every moment of when your children are young. Otherwise, before you know it they are in their teens, almost as tall as you and starting to become more independent before your very eyes. You want them to slowly gain more responsibility but at the same time don’t want them to grow up too fast. So here are some examples of when you know your little one is not quite so little anymore.
More of a Social Life
You know they are starting to get older when you notice that they prefer to spend time glued to their mobiles, messaging their friends as opposed to wanting to spend time doing a family activity with you in the evenings or at the weekends.
Whilst it is good for them to maintain and establish new friendships you do get a little concerned that all this social media is going to have a negative effect on them. So you still try to encourage family time based on something they would enjoy, so you can still spend time together.
Being Responsible
They are also reaching the age where soon they will be going out drinking at the pub and will start dating, so then you wonder to yourself, do I need to have ‘the talk’ with them yet or wait until they ask me questions? Probably not a subject you would want to bring up with but you know that is important to be supportive and open about these things.
Learning How to Drive
They start to express an interest in learning how to drive. You have been used to driving them around to school, to meet their friends and to various sporting activities so the idea that they will no longer need you to be a driver will be a little strange at first. It also dawns on you that you will need to start saving up for a car for them to drive when they do eventually pass their test, so you realise you need to make sure you put some more money aside.
Wanting to Get Body Piercings
They might start to think about piercings and where to buy body jewellery, look no further or even to your dismay the idea of getting a tattoo. It can be difficult to try and persuade them otherwise but you will want to make sure that when they are at least 18 that it is definitely something they want, given how permanent it is. For some teens, there are health considerations that might make tattoos trickier for them too. When this is the case, check with their consultant first.
It can be tricky as you do not want to feel as though you are depriving them of something they want to do, but they will need to understand that it is not just a temporary faze that they can suddenly get rid of easily.
The best thing is to strike a good balance between allowing them to be more independent but at the same time providing some discipline too.
