Understanding and Supporting Your Teen

As your child grows up, he or she faces many challenges. What starts as learning rules and social norms in the early years shifts into opportunities to implement those things during the teen years. From ages 13-19, your child will navigate a variety of situations while balancing his or her responsibilities, managing relationships, and handling hormones. It may be inevitable, but it is far from simple and supporting your teen becomes all the more important.

You have a role to play in this process for your teen. As you walk alongside your teen, you must focus on understanding him or her and implementing healthy, age-appropriate ways to support him or her.

While this is important in practical ways like handling the pressure of school assignments or dealing with someone difficult, it is even more important when it comes to your teen’s mental health.

The importance of understanding and supporting your teen.

Parenting a teen is about far more than rules and school. Your teen is a complex person. Just as you want your teen to be physically well, you want your teen to have good mental health. This includes emotional, psychological, and social wellness.

The teen years are especially precarious when it comes to mental health. That doesn’t mean your teen is bound to have mental health issues. Instead, it means recognizing that your teen is dealing with many social and physiological changes that impact him or her. When you are available and understanding, you can offer your teen support to help foster good mental health.

Ways to support your teen’s mental health.

You can support your teen’s mental health during this time in a variety of ways. As you read through these ideas, consider how you can implement them and how they can benefit your teen.

Start by Praying. It is important to recognize that prayer is not the only resource, but it is an important one. As you parent and love your teen, ask God for help to do it well and wisdom to know what they need.

Consider Physical Needs.

The choices people make with their physical bodies impact how they think, feel, and behave. Consider your teen’s physical needs.

• Is your teen getting adequate sleep? How can you support better sleep habits in your home?
• Does your teen have movement or exercise in his or her day? Are there things you can do with your teen that would get you moving together?
• Is your teen eating nutritious foods? Does he or she balance unhealthy snacks or treats with protein, vegetables, and fruit? Are there nutritious foods your teen likes that you can make available?

Look for Help.

This is not something you need to navigate alone. Your teen needs people other than you as a support network in his or her life. Consider who can help your teen and support him or her in healthy ways. Look for people like teachers, coaches, doctors, family members, or others that you and your teen can trust to help navigate these years.

There is help for you for supporting your teen.

This is not an exhaustive list. Rather, this is a starting point to offer ideas for how to show your teen understanding and support in this stage. A trained counselor can help you learn how to support your teen to promote mental wellness. A counselor can also help your teen develop strategies as he or she learns how to address these things on his or her own.

Look through the list of counselors here at McKinney Christian Counseling in Texas and see who would be a good fit for your family. Whether it is for you or your teen, there are Christian counselors in McKinney, Texas who can help.