Teens, Tears, Cheers & Fears

The purpose of this post is to take a new look at this entire teen thing, inside and out.
In honor of my wonderful mom, may she be well until 120!
 

Question for your table: Who is watching whom the most?

Parents watching kids? Or kids watching parents?

Does it depend on the age of the kids?

We know that babies and toddlers watch their parents intently.

But parents also watch their babies and toddlers intently.

What about teens?

Does the role-modeling phase ended at adolesence?

Is being a teenager more about rebellion than about imitation?

I would suggest to you that it's still all about imitation - but now with more circumspection.

Translation: count on them to imitate what you do, not what you say.

If you have a teen at the Shabbat table, ask him or her, "Do I (parent) ever fail to practice what I preach?"

I guarantee you that they will immediately be able to come up with at least one example.

Try applying this insight to my previous post - technology use.

We say, "Limit your time" yet if we don't limit our own time....

If we say, please leave your phone in the kitchen overnight, but we take our own to bed . . . definitey going to follow the action, not the words.

But it applies to everything.

You want your teen to say "Please" and "Thank you" every time? Are you saying it every time?

You want your teen to smile when walking in the room - do you??

You want your teen to be calm and happy and less worried and anxious - are you?

You want your teen to say more positive things and less negative things. How are you doing on this?



Shabbat Shalom

and Happy Mother's Day
 

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