It is not easy to be a single parent. This gets much more demanding when you single handedly have to look after your teenage son or daughter. Parenting a teenager just adds to the pressure of being a single parent. Teenagers can be stubborn, rude, violent and difficult to handle. They may just refuse to listen to you and are likely to hide the reason they are doing so. Somehow most teenagers do not share things with their parents. They feel their parents won’t understand them and will instead judge, preach or punish them. Most of them they fail to understand that their parents are always there to support them.
Try to get on their friendly side
But the good thing is that you can easily work things out with your child in his/her teenage. Teenagers often feel confused due to the changes that keep on taking place in their body. All you have to do is try to be a friend to your child and in no time, he or she will start confiding in you.
But to do that, you need to figure out what exactly your child is going through. Most probably, if you directly question him or her you are likely to get a negative answer. But that doesn’t mean you don’t ask at all. Do ask. If you get a positive reply, the process of being a friend of your teenage son or daughter will get much easier. In case you get a repulsive answer, you will have to work hard. But it is not impossible to get on the bright side.
Being a single parent, life is already likely to be stressful for you. You have the responsibility of looking after your work as well as your children, all by yourself. On the top of that if your child just fails to understand you and your state of mind it can obviously get a little disheartening. But you are an adult and you need to behave like one. You cannot act like your teenage child who probably shuts his or her door on the problems in his or her life.
Handling teenage anxiety
You to have gone through this phase of being a teenager, so you must very well understand what turmoil your child might be facing that leads to teenage anxiety. Remember, many parents all over the world are parenting teenagers who experience teen anxiety. You too might have gone through similar feelings as a teenager.
If your teen is going though anxiety he or she may get complaint and quite at times. You need to notice these behavioral changes in your teen to be able to handle his/ her anxiety. It is very important to treat teen anxiety as leaving it untreated is likely to result in serious problems like depression, wrong life choices, substance abuse and other harmful habits.
While parenting a teenager, you need to know that teen anxiety is normal and treatable. You do not need to get stressed over it. It may take some time to get your teen on the track, but it is definitely possible.