Parenting My Teen

This is the 2nd article in a series dedicated to Teens After School Activities. With the school year nearly upon us, it’s time to be thinking about how we as parents can help nurture their desire to participate in various sports and maintain their grades at the same time.

The first thing we as parents need to do in order to help our students be successful in both the sport they’re involved in and in their studies, is to sit down and make up a schedule with them. The schedule needs to include all their activities, including practice times, game times, their work schedule if they have a job, time for homework, family activities, church activities and any other activities they may be involved in, including time with friends. As you can see, these things alone make for a very tight schedule for students. Hopefully this will help them be good time managers when they are adults and learn to not overschedule themselves.

Once school begins and your student is involved in the various sports, it’s then our responsibility to help hold our teen accountable for getting their homework done, making practice and holding down their job. We can do this by being as supportive as possible by: giving them rides to practice, giving them a quiet space to do their homework, helping them with their homework when they need it, or perhaps even helping them out with the purchase of a car they can call their own, if you can afford it.

Another very important aspect in supporting our teens in their involvement in high school sports is to be present at as many games or events as possible. Nothing says “I love you” more to a teen than for them to know you’re behind them 100%. Even in the sport they’ve chosen isn’t one you think they should participate in, if they love it and it’s their passion, or even if they just want to give it a shot, your attendance is very important. And if you can’t make it to a game or event, have a legitimate reason; don’t miss out on these last few chances to show your teen how important that what they’re involved in is important to you too. Once they’ve grown and are out on their own, you’ll long for those days when you we’re sitting in the bleachers, wrapped in blankets, freezing, watching your child win…or lose…that football game. Okay, maybe you won’t miss that part of it, but you’ll definitely miss the days when your child was younger and you still had some say in their decisions and everything going on in their life.

As your teen is going through their high school years, its one last chance at helping them be as successful as possible before they head off to college or into the adult world. It’s at this time in their lives when they really need our support to help them grow into independent successful adults.

For further guidance with helping your teen through the high school years check out High School Stuff: A great source of information for parents, students, and teachers about all aspects of high school life. A former teacher talks openly and frankly about topics such as standardized testing, college admissions, study tips, home schooling, curriculum guides, extracurricular activities, and more.