Parenting a teenager can often be extremely challenging. It requires the ability to be present with your teen in the face of changing relational dynamics and enormous stress. You’re doing your best, yet it can feel like the deck is somehow stacked against you and/or your teen. You’re not alone, and there is hope for positive change!

As parents, we receive a ton of parenting advice, sometimes conflicting advice or advice that doesn’t feel right to us or seem to apply to our family or current reality. Parenting today is lightyears away from how it used to be. Growing up as a Gen X’er and even as a Millennial was entirely different than the experience your teen is now having. School and social media pressures can be overwhelming, not to mention random gun violence, relational violence, and the existence of fentanyl. Maybe you live far away from family who might be supportive, or maybe extended family simply isn’t supportive. Maybe your teen is neurodivergent and you’re trying to figure out a path forward that makes sense for your teen and your family.

Also, believe it or not, your teen is paying close attention to you and learning most from what you do and how you are being. It’s not just about what you’re telling them. What would you like your teen to learn from you? What values and ways of being would you like to model for your teen? Coaching is an excellent way to learn to intentionally model to your teen what’s important to you.