I used to be afraid of having teenagers. The thought of raising children to adulthood felt like a huge and overwhelming responsibility. I was afraid that I would totally screw up, miss the point and make mistakes.
But then Jesus radically changed my heart. He opened my eyes to see how much I am loved by Him and helped me go from chasing the approval of others to resting in His love – and it changed everything about the way I raise.
I no longer have to raise for fear of the future; I can trust God tomorrow and live faithfully today – knowing I will make mistakes, but that’s why there is Jesus.
I no longer have to mother from a place of overwhelm; I can look to God’s spirit that is within me and ask for His help and strength when I don’t know what to do – and trust Him to help me lean for my children and love my children, in good and difficult times. to dawn.
My kids don’t need a mother who is perfect. They need a mother to point them to the one Perfect – Jesus.
These days I really love raising teenagers – and they bring so much joy, depth and laughter into my life. I can embrace each day as a gift…not because I see it all, but because I can entrust my children and their lives to the One Who holds the whole world in His hands.
Motherhood is still hard, but it’s also sacred and heartwarming and even super hilarious for many days. It shines a light on my own need for Jesus like nothing else does…and also gives me the chance to see that He Is Enough like nothing else does.
On this week’s episode of The Crystal Paine Show, Jesse and I sit down and you answer burning questions about raising teens. We share lessons we’ve learned, struggles we’ve had, challenges we’ve faced, and things we learned the hard way — and what helped us build stronger relationships and better communication with our teens.
In this episode
[00:34] – Welcome to a new episode of The Crystal Paine Show.
[00:55] – You all asked for more teen related content and submitted so many good questions!
[04:01] – Q: How do you decide when to push your kids or let them fail?
[07:22] – We try to say yes as much as possible and we try to keep our nos to a minimum.
[10:48] – There is a fine line between helping and enabling. You don’t want to get in the way of lessons to be learned.
[11:57] – Q: At what age did they get their first real money job, and how can they help?
[14:23] – Encourage them as soon as they can give gentle nudges.
[19:49] – There were many questions about technology and social media, see the show notes for previous podcast episodes.
[20:47] – Question: How do you talk to your children about the birds and the bees?
[25:00] – Prepare them and give them the tools to react in an awkward/uncomfortable situation.
[25:46] – Q: How do you deal with teenagers who don’t want to share with their father?
[26:45] – One of the best things we did years ago was to ask our kids outright, “What are we doing that makes you feel loved? And what are we doing that makes you feel unloved?”
[28:22] – Parents, pay attention to how much time we correct and how much time we connect.
[31:10] – Be in their world and show them that you care.
[34:10]- Being honest with them about our struggles and asking for forgiveness.
Links and Resources
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This post Raising Teens: Answering Your Burning Questions
was original published at “https://moneysavingmom.com/raising-teens-answering-your-burning-questions/”
