They don’t need you forever. While our children will always be our children, they will not always be children. And trust me they grow up a lot sooner than we did. If 40 is the new 30, then it’s working the other way around on the younger side. Hopefully not by a full decade, but I’ll say it - 15 is the new 20.

When I say that I mean, today’s 15 year olds are experiencing as much life if not more than when I was 20. The young have forever tried to be older than they really are, and now I think they may have succeeded. So, what’s a parent to do? THEY think they are 20, but we parents know better! (or do we?)

As a parent we cannot give our minor children the autonomy they crave, it’s just not safe, not to mention probably against the law! That will not stop them craving it, and doing everything within their power to get it too.

There will be screaming!

So we give them some independence with boundaries and consequences if the boundaries are broken. The top consequence in most families today – the confiscation of electronics – that hits em here it hurts.

The thing we parents have to remember is that we too were doing the same thing in different ways when we were their age. The struggle for independence, when a teen, is age old; even my dad was a rebel without a cause. So it is with our teens. They will not give up the struggle for independence until they get it. And trust me they have far more energy than you do mom and dad. It’s our duty to make sure they grow up independent. The only way to do that is to give them the space to make their own mistakes, and to be close enough to help them pick up the pieces and let them know they are loved beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Love and Bright blessings ~ Richard

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