Jonah Engler – How to Build a Healthy Relationship with Your Teenager

Jonah Engler says Parenting is perhaps the toughest and most rewarding job in the world. You take on the immense responsibility of raising a child who will go out in the world to find their place.

However, parenting has its fair share of challenges as well. Even when your child has started to grow up, you still need to be around and support them every step of the way.

Parenting a teenager is possibly the toughest stage of the process. It is a stage of life where humans feel the crux of all emotions.

It’s a very sensitive stage of development for your child and the way you treat them during this time is likely to stay with them forever.

But, before you learn how to establish a healthy relationship, it’s important that you know why teenagers are the toughest to parent, says Jonah Engler. Keep Reading to Learn More below!

Why are Teenagers Known to be Difficult?

Teenage starts when your child turns 13 and ends when they turn 20. It is the period in which they grow from adolescence to becoming fully grown adults. As a result, they experience dramatic hormonal, physical, and emotional changes.

During this time, they become more emotional or more reserved based on their personality, but regardless of how the change manifests, it takes a toll on them and puts them in a very vulnerable place emotionally.

It is not easy to deal with life when your body is constantly changing, and you feel emotionally charged most of the time. That is the reason why even a small thing can sometimes be enough to irk a teenager.

You need to be very careful about how you interact with them because if they begin to feel even a hint of hostility or that you are trying to ‘control’ them, they will not appreciate it at all. You need to be really gentle and smart about how you go about treating your teenager, says Jonah Engler.

Tips for building a healthy relationship with your teenager

Here are the top two things that you can do to build a healthy relationship with your teenager:

1. Build Trust with Empathy

The rule of thumb for a healthy relationship with your teenager is to focus on building trust instead of imposing authority on them. Teenagers are particularly more averted by imposed authority.

Therefore, empathy is your strongest tool. No matter what they are going through, you need to make sure that you are able to provide a safe space for them to be able to talk. As per Jonah Engler, if you want your child to come to you for help, you need to show them that empathy will never be off the table with your behavior.

2. Set Ground Rules

Another helpful tip is setting ground rules with your teenager from the get-go. Sit them down and talk to them about all the changes they can expect in their body and behavior so they are mentally prepared and also feel comfortable enough to come to you when they need help.

Then, set a few ground rules around certain things. Let them negotiate so they feel heard. But once the rules are set, do not compromise on them.

Final Thoughts

Teenagers can be very tricky, but they are always willing to listen to sense instead of just seeing their parents exercise authority. So, make sure you work on building a healthy relationship with them.