How Can You Best Relate as an Adult to a Teen?

Are you concerned about the upcoming teen years with your child? Or do the teens you work with baffle you? Do you want to do all you can to improve your relationship with your teen?

This period in a teen’s growth is amazing! They are developing into a mature adult, ready to take on adult responsibilities. But it is also a time in their lives that is full of challenges, pitfalls, snares, hormone highs & lows, and situations they may not be ready to take on.

Earlier this year, I blogged each week about using the DISC System to better understand each Adult to Child combination. I utilized the wisdom and practical suggestions found in Dr. Charles Boyd’s excellent book, Different Children/Different Needs. [Affiliate link]. You can read these on my website: www.idealpersonidealplace.com/blog

Many of you have teenage children – or are about to have – or work with this age group. Because of the high value of the insights in Dr. Boyd’s book, as well as the “Strengths, Struggles & Strategies” he offers, I want to go through each DISC Combination again, but this time from the Adult to Teen viewpoint.

Each week, we will focus on one combination, starting with the D-Style Adult and the D-Style Teen. Again, I will share stories (with permission) from raising our three teens as well as what I’ve learned from teaching this age group, working with the High School Youth Group, and having most of our orthodontic patients be in their teens.

But my first experience with teens was when I was newly married and doing my student teaching in music education. Most of my time was spent in a middle school, but part of each week included instruction in a nearby high school. Then I spent several months substitute teaching in these 2 schools before my husband and I opened our orthodontic practice. Sometimes I think I got more of an education from my students than they did from me!

I hope you will join me as we grow in our understanding, develop insights and use practical strategies each week to improve our  DISC Style Adult to Teen Relationships.

QUESTION: Have you felt concerned about the upcoming teen years with your child? Or been confused about how to work best with your teen patients? What strategies have you tried? I’d love to hear your thoughts and observations. Please share in the comment section below.