Many parents around the world believe that they find it extremely hard to handle their tweens that are very unpredictable in nature. Tweens often have the most uncertain nature because they are often not sure about what they want. Most tweens do not really pay attention to what their parents have to say, but at the same time they need the input and advice of their elders. This can literally drive many parents crazy because they want to be sure that they do not mishandle the situation or create any unnecessary problems for their kids. The thing is that tweens are bubbling with new ideas and insights all the time and therefore they are never really sure about what they want and therefore they act very moody. Many parents often complain about how their kids behave and how they can come up with better ways to control their kids. In all this it is certainly tough to encourage your tween to care.
Encouraging tweens to care about the things that matter to you is a great task that needs to be handled with care and patience. Hence, to start with you need to make sure that you understand what’s going on in the mind of your tween. The major thing that most parents miss out on is that they do not really understand what their kid is going through and therefore they are unable to comprehend their feelings and state of mind. Kids are usually involved in their families, but at this stage they begin to learn more about the world apart from their immediate family. This allows them to expand their mind to the world at large, but they are still pretty unclear about it. Hence, parents need to make sure that they backup their tweens and provide the support they need while they learn more about the world and expand their knowledge. Any immediate pressure can make them feel that you are pushing them beyond their comfort and this can retaliate negatively. Go slow and ensure that you give enough time to your children to think about matters you believe are important.
Tweens are always excited about making friends and this is the time that they are more close to their friends than family. These children are in the search of their identity and therefore they make friends that are more like them. Many parents usually make sure that their kids get involved with other kids that they prefer and that way they can influence the friends that their tweens make. Tweens usually make friends based on mutual interest and common values that they have. Instead of telling the tweens who to be friends with, parents can arrange play dates and activities with other kids so that their tweens can get involved with naturally.
Surprisingly, tweens do not like parent’s input and they usually reject that and get irritated when parents try to dominate their life and make decisions. Hence, it is often recommended that parents know about what their tweens are doing, but provide information on how their tweens need to deal. To a lot of extent, tweens extract information from their parents and therefore tweens might often say things that parents said previously in their life. Parents can also provide inputs in a softer way or differently so that their kid does not feel offended. Patience is a big factor that parents need to keep up with because it is generally seen that tweens that often reject the decisions of their parents eventually does accept their advice and things are alright at a later stage through self-realization.
Appreciate Your Tween
Everybody likes appreciation and so do tweens and therefore you have to make sure that you appreciate your children whenever they make good choices. On the other hand, even if it was your idea you should make them believe that it was their idea. This allows them to feel that they have better decision making powers and that they are on the right track and that they also care about their parents. Give enough time to your kid to understand why you oppose certain ideas and beliefs and let the tween decide instead of telling him or her no straightaway.