This is why you must be in charge of the limits set for all aspects of her life… bedtime limits, homework limits, TV limits, social media limits, emotional limits, freedom limits, time limits, socializing limits, food and nutrition limits, sports limits, time alone in her room limits, shopping limits, relationship limits, etc.
It’s Presentation Time! (Yay!) Does the idea of doing a presentation make you want to run and hide?Perhaps your grades depend on a dazzling oral demonstration of your knowledge, or …
Begin with baby steps Make your talks short and sweet in the beginning. Chat for a moment or two, and then excuse yourself. If your teen wants to continue the conversation, he’ll follow you out of the room. If he doesn’t, he won’t feel any pressure. It will be a pleasant experience for both of you.
But don’t stop there! Find ways to increase your activity at home. I asked the very creative members of CTRWA what they could do at their homes to increase their daily activity. Here’s some of what they came up with:
The First Five Fun, Fantastic and Fabulous Summer Activities
> Set up a Quidditch tournament, and form a team.
> Play Capture the Flag, Zombieland version, at a local park…One team Human; One team Zombies.
> Mow the lawn so it looks like a PacMan board, and play your friends.
You can eat anything else you want, as long as you fit in 4 cups of green veggies every day. It’s easy. One large salad will easily account for 2 cups. Have spinach or collard greens with your lunch, and green beans for supper, and voila!
The “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” philosophy does not work. It only serves to teach her that you don’t actually believe in the “Do As I Say” part. What you Say and Do ALWAYS matters. If she sees you living a lie, her trust in you suffers.
That, my friends, is the core of teen angst.
Both approaches jumble our emotions like a rollercoaster ride. Player A gets emotionally scrambled internally, and Player B is emotionally whipped externally. The Ref, on the other hand, doesn’t have either of those ups and downs. She understands her self worth as she simply observes.
To this day, I thank my lucky stars I wasn’t able to pluck her out of that clothes rack before she stopped screaming. If I had, I would have tried to bribe her to prevent my own embarrassment, anything to make her be quiet. I never would’ve learned my valuable lesson—
