How To Discipline An 18 Year Old

When your child finally becomes a teenager, parenting starts to get very interesting. You start seeing yourself transitioning from a teacher or caretaker to a guide and adviser. But that does not necessarily mean that you do not have to intervene when things start getting serious.

The only thing that changes, is the fact that your child gets the leverage of making various decisions for himself or herself. Even if these decisions are not what you may like, it is very important that you provide your child with lots of support during this phase.

Many teenagers are heavily influenced by their various social relationships and they let this overshadow the commitment needed by their family.

And since they like the idea of testing the limits of their age induced independence, you should not be surprised to see your child arguing with you, or refusing to agree with you on some particular issues in which you think is right.

There are many challenges your teen would face when growing up. These things may make him or her start acting up and causing various issues in the family.

These changes accompanied with adolescence, are usually normal and it is very difficult to actually balance everything, as you are literally dealing with a human with the tendency to switch up at anytime. Teenagers are usually very sensitive to criticism and are always bound to question themselves most times.

Knowing this, it might be considerable to actually give your child a little space.

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How To Discipline An 18 Year Old

How To Discipline An 18 Year Old

Since many teenagers want excess freedom, it is no news that they are susceptible to breaking rules and various laws. This can be very alarming, especially if he or she starts negatively affecting lots of things or people in the society where they reside. Some strategies you can use to discipline your child are;

Dialogue

One of easiest ways to ensure that you keep your child in check, is by engaging in lots of conversation with your child.

Talking with your child will enable you understand them the more, and also help in ensuring that you thoroughly know lots of things about them. This will ensure that they feel respected and heard, making it easier to keep them in check.

Giving them rewards

Your child might not be a little kid anymore, but they are still your children and want things to show for whatever they do. Let’s say your 18 year old child gets a good grade in their year one of college, you should try to get them that phone that they’ve been craving.

Doing things like these will make your child know that you are actually aware of their lives, and it will make them want to do more. Every child wants their parent to be proud of them, and the best way of showing it, is by rewarding or praising them for their achievements.

Maintain House rules

This is very helpful as it helps instill order in the home. Maintaining a set of house rules that have consequences when not adhered to is something you should do to ensure that your child does not get complacent and wild.

Things like returning home before 7pm, always doing their set of chores, going for their computer classes, taking their younger ones to school, are examples of things that you can do to ensure that your child is busy and has an activity going on.

You should also try to go along with the rules to make it easier for your child to follow. Many 18 year olds are intrigued with technology gadgets, you can also reduce the time they use these gadgets.

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Know their friends

Many teenagers are easily influenced by their peers. Knowing this, you should try to know the type of friends they keep.

This will help you know how to handle them, and you can start telling your child if they are bad people. Invite your son’s or daughters friends for lunch and watch them. You might be surprised to see the reason why they may misbehaving in the flesh.

Give them responsibilities

If your child does something that hurts some other person, you should create a plan that would make that child consider restitution. They should apologize first, then you give them some responsibilities that would make them pay for what they did.

They could get that extra chores, or cook for a week. Doing things like these will make them reconsider before doing things like these again. If your child is always playing games or doing things that they like, try to relate it to their work to make it easier.

You should let them know that you are not against them doing whatever they want to as long as it is normal, but they should always take care of their various responsibilities first. Not only will this make your child do things that they are supposed, to but they would be doing these things with purpose.

Avoid constant arguments

Once your teen does not agree with you, you should ensure that it does not turn to a frenzy of arguments. Do not exchange words with them as it leaves a very bad impression of you. It could also make you say things you are not supposed to say to them.

Always ensure that you make them aware of the fact that they have the right to make their own decisions and you have no problem with that. You could leave the scene and call them later on a dialogue. This will make them understand you better and it is better than turning the house into a frenzy with loud screams.

Your expectations should be clear

You should always let your child know of your thoughts when you do things like dropping them for movies or allow them go out with their friends. For example, if you want them to come back before 5pm, tell that child. Do not assume that they would instinctively guess what is on your mind and abide by it.

Tell them things you expect them to do when they encounter a problem. This will make your relationship with him or her better and more stable.

Always listen to your child

You should always ensure that you communicate well with your child. Effective communication is very important if you and your child are to have a good relationship. Some times, you should sacrifice, and rather than doing most of the talking, you should try to listen to them more.

Ask them questions and know about various issues troubling them. This will help you understand them better, and you can also help them with solutions on how to effectively go about their problems.

CONCLUSION

As a parent training a teenager, you should always ensure that you avoid using force to discipline your child. At that age, whatever you do to them becomes life defining as they might end up doing it to someone else. Always ensure that you do not jump into conclusions and try to always be very neutral in your dealings with them.

Know that asking the right questions and listening with great attention would make your child share and vent their problems to you, and this makes it easier for you to relate with them.

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