These are the 10 life lessons that parents need to teach their teenagers. If you teach your teens these life lessons, they’ll lead meaningful, productive, and fulfilling lives. But it isn’t always easy to remember to impart these kinds of life lessons to your teens, especially when there are so many day-to-day situations to deal with. So I recommend that you read this article and make it a point to instill in your teens these 10 values and beliefs. You’ll be glad you did!
As a parent, you’re teaching your teens life lessons every day through your words and actions. are you intentional about the life lessons you’re teaching them? I came up with this list of 10 life lessons that every parent should teach their teens.
Life lesson #1:
Here’s the first one. Success is more about the contribution than it is about achievement. The people who lead the most significant lives are the ones who focus on serving others and making the lives of others better in some way.
These people are not obsessed with racking up accomplishments. I’m sure you want your teens to be successful, not just look successful, and real success is about contribution.
Life Lesson #2:
Number two, don’t worry too much about what other people think of you. Other people think about you a lot less than you might imagine. So encourage your teens not to strive for popularity. Encourage them to strive to be people of principles.
Life Lesson #3:
Number three, focus on progress, not perfection. You can never attain perfection.
But when you focus on making progress, you’ll achieve excellent outcomes without being too obsessed about the end result. Plus, you’ll come to realize that getting better is its own reward.
Life Lesson #4:
Number four, dare to be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to talk to your teens about the mistakes you’ve made. Explain to them how you’ve grown as a person through your failures.
As leadership expert John C. Maxwell once said, “Want to impress others? Talk about your successes. Want to impact others? Talk about your failures.”
Life Lesson #5:
Number five, you can’t always choose your circumstances, but you can always choose your attitude. Life will disappoint and frustrate your teens. But as the saying goes, whenever you feel frustrated, you can choose to become bitter, or you can choose to become better. Show your teens through your example that they should always choose to become better.
Life lesson #6:
Number six, school isn’t the place you go to get an education, school is just one part of your education. We live in an information age where you can learn almost any skill and acquire almost any kind of knowledge through the power of the Internet.
So your teens must become proactive about becoming truly educated people. Demonstrate to your teens that you’re always learning and growing too.
Life Lesson #7:
Number seven, try new things. Read new books, take up new hobbies, try new foods, and listen to new kinds of music. These experiences will enrich your life and help you to develop a sense of wonder.
If you haven’t already adopted this approach toward life, give it a try, and encourage your teenagers to try new things too. You could even participate in some new activities together with your teenagers.
Life Lesson #8
Number eight, be intentional about spending time with people you respect and admire. There’s nothing wrong with spending time with people who are fun to be around.
But if your teens want to grow and develop, they’ll need to spend time with people who inspire them to think and act differently, and who inspire them to become people of character.
Life lesson #9:
Number nine, become an organized person. Life is often messy and complicated, so your teens must control what they can control. Being disorganized will cause them a lot of stress in the long run.
So teach them to use a calendar, keep track of deadlines, write things down, decide on their priorities, and set reminders. They’ll be glad they did these things.
Life lesson #10:
Number 10, your habits will either make you or break you. In most situations, the small things you do every day matter more than the big things you do occasionally. So today, start eliminating your unhealthy habits start building healthy habits, and share your progress with your teens.
If your teens are also trying to improve their habits, you could even keep each other accountable, this would make it a team effort.