Your child isn’t a toddler anymore. They have grown up and have become a teen or a tween and its time you tweak your parenting techniques to keep up with them. Psychologists believe that primary caregivers, often the child’s parents, have the most influence on them when they are growing up. This influence is the strongest in the kid’s growing years but decreases as the child steps in his teenage. Although it has lessened but parental influence is one of the most powerful things that are responsible for a kid’s decisions, behavior and other qualities. What parents teach their children in their teens will be useful for them later in life.

Nature or nurture?

This is the most enduring and controversial debate of the twentieth century. Are the qualities and traits that a person displays genetically determined or learned? The modern answer is that a person’s capacity to behave in a particular manner is genetically determined but capacities can be engaged. Primary caregivers can teach their kids how to behave.

Here are some things that you can teach your teen:

Be careful, they are using you as a role model

As hormones set in, your teenager is going to experience great many feelings for the first time and who are they going to look up to? You. Consciously or unconsciously your teen is going to mimic you when you react to feeling of anger, frustration, sadness and happiness.

As your child stumbles into adulthood, one of the things parents teach their kids is appropriate human interaction. They see humans interact with each other and get influenced by it. Parents are the first people to have an effect on their kid’s behavior. Do you treat other people nicely? If yes then your teen is likely to do so too. Your behavior on the social media can also have effects on your teen’s social media footprints. Do you post inappropriate memes or pictures? Do you upload suggestive pictures of yourself? Do you document every move you make on Facebook or Twitter? That’s what your teen is going to learn from you.

Your attitude and opinions towards alcohol and drinking is going to affect your teens. Talk to them about your perception of drinking and in what situations it is acceptable and how much. They will try to conform to your ideals. Same goes for other things like driving, smoking, dating etc.

Your teen should know when to unplug and you are going to teach them when to. You need to interact with your kids and for that they need to give you their full undivided attention. But for your kids to be that person, you have to be that person yourself in the first place. They need to see you are available and ready to talk to them.