Keeping Your Teenager In School
The school session is underway, but are you worried that your teen is going to drop out, or does your teen already have a habit of skipping school? Keeping your teen in school is the surest way to keep him or her from getting into trouble with drugs, alcohol, and other life-debilitating activities.
Keeping your teen in school can be harder than you think. In some states in the U.S., a teen only has to be sixteen years old before he or she can drop out legally. The same is true of many schools in Canada. While on the political front, legislation needs to happen to ensure that those minimum ages are raised to 18 in order to keep teens in school, with additional opportunities made available for 19-21 year olds, nothing is going to happen without parental involvement.
So what can you do to keep your teen in school if he or she is not breaking the law by leaving school?
You can make it downright uncomfortable for your teen not to attend school! If dropping out of school means your teen gets to lie around all day playing video games while you continue to provide free room and board, what incentive do you have to keep your teen in school? Not much.
If you have a teen who is thinking about dropping out, has dropped out, or is skipping school days, you need to sit down with your teen and have a very stern conversation with him or her about how that will affect life. Make sure that your teen understands that while he or she attends school, you are happy to help support their educational pursuit by providing food, shelter, and the comforts of home…but if school is no longer on his or her agenda, then the rules of the game must change.
Insist that if your teen drop out that he or she pay rent, pay for food, and get a job. Immediately cancel privileges like a cell phone or internet connection that you pay for. Make it clear that the benefits of living at home come with certain obligations, that just as you have a job to do to keep a roof over the head of your family, your teen has a job to do in getting an education.
If you want to keep your teen in school, you are going to have to take a tough stance. It is something you can make your expectations clear about even before there is a problem. By consistently supporting your teen’s education, by providing positive feedback for the efforts your teen makes in school, and by making it clear how important you think education is, you can help keep your teen in school and motivated to succeed.
If your teen struggles with learning disabilities of any kind, be sure you obtain the supports they need (tutoring, extra help with homework at night, a quiet place to study) to be as successful as possible. Remember, keeping your teen in school does not mean holding them to getting all perfect grades. It’s the effort that counts.
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