Should I treat my teenage child as an adult after divorce?
- Seek friends for emotional support instead
Leave your emotional helplessness for your friends or parents. Don't throw all of these to your growing youth and expect him/her to console you.
- Be real!
Let's face it, it will be wonderful to have someone to do the extra chores and take good care of the house now that you are single. However, don't expect your growing youth to prepare a meal of fine dinning standards or make the house shine and sparkle. Keep their chores appropriate!
- Set the limits
Continue your role as the parent. Don't make your growing youth a co-parent or an adult ready to face the world. Giving him/her a role would cause them to be resentful and hateful of the life they are not ready. Maintain yourself, as the parent
I am Yaw Wen Ping, an individual with strong interest in child and adolescent development. An advocate of helping children and youths in divorce families. If you need any help, do not hesitate to contact me.
Email: Wenping.yaw@gmail.com
Phone: 97628789
It is normal that many divorced parents do not have the attention and emotional support they once had. Hence, they turn to their children to fill up this empty feeling. However, be careful, you might be forcing him to be an adult to soon..
For youths to grow into psychologically healthy adults, they need to be youths and experienced their adolescence.
In fact, you should..
- Be honest and empathetic
Tell your growing youth about how life would be different. Don't blame your spouse/ex-spouse for all these changes. Your kids need you to be strong and not whiny!
