By the time your child has reached their teenage years you’ve probably already taught them all of these things, at least once. But they have been busy being a kid, so it’s during those teen years that they are in most need of a refresher course. Before they get to their senior year of high school, graduate, and run off to college, you want to make sure that you’ve raised an intelligent child that is going to be able to make a good life for themselves.
Being a parent isn’t easy, and if you have more than one child you’re going to need to do this stuff more than once. You don’t just want one of your children to be successful at life, you want that for all of them.
Teach Them About Money
Money is one of those lessons you need to be teaching your child continuously throughout life. It starts with their play cash register and grocery store when they are still in the single digit ages, continues through the years of allowances for cleaning the dishes, and it nears its end when they get their first job.
Teach them to save, one of the best money lessons a parent can give their child. Teach them the value of money, but also teach them the dangers of it, like using credit cards when you don’t have the money to pay them off. Teach them about debt and bad credit and the importance of having at least decent credit if they ever want to get a loan for anything, whether it’s a small personal loan or a mortgage to buy their first house.
Teach Them To Be On Time
Manners and timeliness are important lessons to teach your teens. You should be teaching these to them by being good examples of them. It’s not that difficult to say “please” and “thank you,” which are the basics in manners.
As far as being on time goes, it can help keep them employed and help keep them for angering their future significant others.
Help Them Pick A College/Career
Be part of the decisions when it comes to your child’s career and schooling path. Remember that college isn’t for everyone and that you shouldn’t push them into a career that might not be right for them. You can make suggestions, but the decision is essentially theirs.
Support them, help them find alternatives to college if that’s what they want, and be there to answer their questions or help them find the answers if you don’t know.
Teach Them Creativity And Openness
Being creative and open are also important parts of life. You spend their childhood nurturing their imagination, but sometimes in the teens and adults, people start to lose that imagination. Help them keep it. Imagination is what creates music, art, and books.
Teach them how to make friends and fall in love. Be a good example of this whenever you can. Being able to connect with other humans is one of the things that makes life worth living.
Originally posted on April 5, 2017 @ 10:22 am
