Teenage is the most fascinating stage of a person’s life. While they are coming to terms with the physical, mental, emotional and psychological changes going on in them, they are also looking forward to build their life in the best possible way. And in this journey of life while they definitely want their basic needs to be fulfilled, they also want your love, support, encouragement, time and attention.

As a parent based on my personal experience,

I have tried to pen down 5 things that teenagers need the most from their parents.

1) Unconditional love and support :

This is one thing that kids need in abundance during their growing up years. Kids who have loving parents grow up to be kind, gentle and compassionate adults. As much teenage years are fascinating but they are also the most difficult years in term of inner turmoil, and it is during this phase that teenagers want the unconditional love and support of their parents.

They want their parents to be their biggest cheerleaders. The thought that no matter what happens parents are gonna love them irrespective of their choices and decisions gives kids the security of a warm family. As much as they are raring to explore the world, they need their parent’s unconditional love every single day.

2) To be heard and made to feel important :

As teenage years are the transition between childhood and adulthood, kids are constantly torn between having to behave like kids or adults. If they behave like kids they are constantly being reminded that they are growing up into adults and they need to behave like an adult. And when they try to take a decision for themselves, they are told that they are still kids and are too young to take decision on their own. As parents of a teenager, it is very important to respect their identity and give them a say in things that are related to them.

Parents should make them feel that they are being heard by their parents which also makes them feel that they are an important part of the family.

3) Undivided time and attention :

In early days, man used to be the sole bread winner of the family. And since women in those days weren’t too ambitious to carve out a career for themselves, they were expected to stay back at home and look after home and kids. So this way, even though the father was busy, kids had the undivided time and attention of their mother. But with time, women are no longer expected to stay at home to look after kids. They have been encouraged to go out and fulfil their ambitions leaving kids with grandparents or caretakers. But no matter how much love and care grandparents or caretakers provide, teenagers still expect their parents to take out time from their busy schedule and listen to them. Teenagers need their parents to be involved in their lives.

4) Freedom to make decisions and learn from their mistakes :

While teenagers want their parents to be there for them, they also want parents to give them the liberty to make decisions in certain matters and also to show confidence in their decisions and stand by them. Hence we as parents should guide them and instill good values, morals and ethics in them so that they can make the right choices.

5) The right balance between friendly parents and authoritative parents :

While it is said that it’s best to be friends with your kids, on the contrary kids want parents to strike a balance between being friendly and being authoritative so that in times when they need guidance and they can fall back on their parents for support, inspiration, encouragement and motivation.

As much as we may try to list the things our teenage kids expect from us, but the truth is every child is different and unique and so are their needs. So just keep giving them a lot of love, support, reassurance and guidance and they are sure to rock this world. 😊

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