It is a great opportunity to positively impact the lives of young people. At the point where they are slowly growing to understand themselves and into independence, they can make the worst decisions ever. It is an experience every adult tasted notwithstanding we all came from different family backgrounds.
One of the ways we can positively impact a young person’s life, is to sponsor their participation in a personal development programme. It may be to play a musical instrument, or learn a foreign language, or even serve on “The Logos” or some other place where your focus is on serving others. These are practical ways of helping teens and young adults to discover their God-given purpose; the reason God created them, the reason that they are breathing.
Here are some other tips to help them find purpose in their lives:
- Be an excellent example of time management.
- Coach them on time management by assigning them tasks to be completed within a specific time period.
- Recognise their efforts to improve and lovingly point out what went wrong and why, so that they can improve even more.
- Teach them to be accountable for their actions by asking questions like; “What did you have in mind?”, “What was your intention?” “Why did you do it?”. Do not judge them by declaring to them the reasons for their actions. You can be dead wrong and it is better for them to tell you.
- Have meaningful discussions with them linking their current actions with the future; it is important for them to understand how their actions today can affect their lives tomorrow.
- Give them the freedom they need to mingle, to discover themselves and to discover life in a wholesome and safe way.
- Don’t preach to them, listen before you speak and discuss and share experiences with them rather than lecture in an “I know better” mode.
The above tips would help teens and young adults to value time and seek to use it wisely. It would also help them to develop the ability to examine their actions and decisions and to determine whether these would positively impact their lives in the future. These tips would also increase the probability of you having great relationships with the teens and young adults in your life.
Great tips. Quite too often as parents we jump to conclusions and speak before listening.
So true Michelle, I guess as parents we are still learning :).
Thank you so much for your feedback and may you grow to be a better parent every day.
Best wishes for “2018”.