Letting Go of Your Teenager

Letting Go of Your Teenager

Letting go of your teenager is a scary time. As many students are going back to school, some are starting high school. You may be flashing back to when your baby was going to the first grade. However, now they are grown up and your main days of being a daily teacher or influence, will soon be over.

What values, character qualities, and relationship lessons have your children learned to help them in the real world? Soon, your child will be on their own in the world. Are you ready for the time of letting go of your teenager? Their senior year will be here before you know it.

It is not like your teaching is completely done, but you need to be thinking of the most important skills taught and reviewed with your now grown child. Continue to instill wisdom, experience, lessons, and an open door of communication so your child can be prepared the best way possible.

Relationships, character, life skills, time management, physical and mental health, values, problem solving, etc are all important topics to make sure you review and empower your child to review and practice using their last years of high school. What do you wish you told your 16 year old self? There are constant concerns when you letting go of your teenager.

There are so many memories that may be rushing through your mind, as you grown child starts school this year. Let your child make mistakes, so they learn what it cost them and do not do the same thing next time. For example, let your child procrastinate and not get an assignment done. Teach your child to use a schedule or day timer. Teach them to do their homework first, and then play. This helps them learn how to prioritize things, and use fun time as a reward. Do not rush in to rescue your child, because one day you will not be there all the time to help.

One thing I am beyond grateful for, is being taught what awesome work ethic looks like. I know I am where I am today because my parents taught me how to make wise choices involving work. What can you thank your parents for, when it comes to life skills? Let your teenager solve their own problems. Let them deal with the consequences. It is one of the main things that helps them grow and an important step in letting go of your teenager.

During their senior year in high school, you can be the best parent while letting go of your teenager at the same time. Easily create one of the most unforgettable graduation gifts ever. Create a personalized, do-it-yourself graduation time capsule. All of these lessons and stories, along with sentimental mementos of this year can be preserved. A graduation time capsule is a way of saying how much you love your child, in the most heartfelt, enduring, and unique way.

Print off any photos you want of your child from this past year, or make a collage from their birth until today. Put these pictures on the outside of the graduation time capsule to decorate it. From being born, to putting bandaids on their boo-boos, playing in the park, going on vacations together, first dates, sports wins, etc. These are all milestone moments in your baby’s life. From their first day of their senior year in high school, start collecting their favorite items to remember this special year in life. Then, let your child choose a “do not open until” date to put on the lid of the time capsule. What all will he or she accomplish by the time this graduation time capsule is opened again?

You could also use the baby time capsule, seen here, to save memorabilia from their first year of life. Then, at the graduation party, the baby time capsule could be opened, as the whole family and friends reminisce. As another gift, give your grown child the graduation time capsule. Inside of it would be “message to the future” letters hand written to the graduate, to read when this new time capsule is opened in the future. Imagine opening in another 10, 20, or 30 years. What predictions would you make for your own child, and what the world will look like for him or her in the future.

What is your advice for letting go of your teenager? Help someone else and comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie