Advice For Parents On Coping With Teen Dating

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
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The vast majority of parents have some worries about the day when their teenage children will start dating and for a substantial number of parents it also signals the point at which their children are making a move from childhood into adulthood. Often, it is also seen as the point when your children take their first steps out alone and this is usually taken as a signal that they do not need you any longer. This is most certainly not the case. Dating is simply another stage on the long path of normal teenage development and they undoubtedly do still need you - and will continue to do so for a long time to come. Nevertheless, this can be a difficult period in a teenager's life and there is a great deal that you can do to make life simpler for both you and your children.

As is the case with many other things, successful dating starts with education and it is crucial to get together with your teenagers before they start dating to discuss what goes into making a successful relationship. It is very easy to think that your children will appreciate the ins and outs of dating but they almost certainly will not. If you think about ...
... it, a lot of their information on the subject will probably have been collected from television where most of the relationships are not intended to reflect the real world but merely to entertain the audience. Your children must understand just what it means to be in a supportive and loving relationship and the best way to learn just what that means is to talk with you about your own views based upon personal experience. This being said, it is also true that your children will learn not simply from what they hear from you, but also from what they see with their own two eyes and so setting a good example in the way that you conduct your own relationship is very important.

When your children start dating you should enter into what will be an ongoing discussion about relationships. Your teenager's dates will not always turn out as they or your expect and they are going to need somebody to turn to when they have a problem. So, it is vital that you keep the lines of communication open and continue the discussion about how they should be treating other people in a relationship as well as just how they should expect to be treated themselves.

Meeting your teenager's date for the very first time can sometimes be a difficult time, but you should try to make this first meeting as comfortable as you can and be both respectful towards and kind to your teenager's date. And do not make the classic mistake of giving the pair a lecture on this first meeting during which you lay down the rules for seeing each other. Should you wish to impose any rules then these are for your teenager and not for his or her date and so ought to be discussed with your child alone and in private. Also, while it is always possible that you will take an immediate dislike to your teenager's date, you must not let this show and should go out of your way to be supportive. After you have taught your children how to conduct themselves in a relationship you have to trust them to make their own decisions and should only interfere if you believe that the relationship is placing your teenager in danger.

It can be difficult to watch your kids growing up and meeting and getting close to new people. But, provided you do your part and ensure that they know what to expect from and how they ought to behave in a relationship, then there is an excellent chance that things will go well and problems will be few and far between for both of you.