Puberty is not easy for parents or children. Teenagers often have mood swings, and as a parent, you probably wonder how to help them be happy, healthy, and satisfied.
Teenagers go through a series of socio-emotional and physical changes that they can hardly cope with on their own. Walking is one of the activities that are useful for working on their behaviour, thinking, and self-identification and you can do it together.
Slight fatigue, fresh air, and kilometres underfoot can be of great use to teenagers to think better and come up with solutions to the ambiguities that are running through their heads at this sensitive age.
Healthy Habits
Healthy habits, just like the immune system, protect us from all negative external influences.At their age, teens create habits that are important for the future and adulthood. Teenagers should be encouraged to engage in regular physical activity and training in order to stay healthy and strong.
Help your child build self-confidence by facing challenges together – maybe even trying something new together like walking or doing yoga or some sport together.
Many teenagers spend too much time on the computer or phone and are not nearly active enough, so it is important to build this habit from an early age, in order to love sports and enjoy them.
TV, video games, and the Internet on phones, tablets, and computers are great “vacuum cleaners” of time and have been proven to lead to physical inactivity in children and such a bad lifestyle in which there is an increased risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Today’s world suffers from obesity because it ingests much more than it spends. Finding balance, ie. proper selection of foods based on caloric value and in accordance with the intensity of physical activity, is the best way to control body weight.
Physical activity is necessary for all categories of the population, so a joint walk benefits both you and your child.
Experts say that teenagers should sleep 8 hours, and try to go to bed at the same time every night. This also applies to weekends or school holidays, in order to create a healthy, strong habit.
Well-rested teenagers tend to make more healthful food choices than their sleep-deprived peers. “Not only do sleepy teens on average eat more food that’s bad for them, but they also eat less food that is good for them,” said Lauren Hale, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine.
Screens Aren’t Good For Mental Health
Cute images or videos can make us smile, but too much screen time can worsen our mood. Smartphones have radically changed every aspect of the internet generation of teenagers- from the nature of their social interactions to mental life.
They connect them to the world and provide them with greater opportunities, but they may also make them lonely, unhappy, and depressed, bringing them to the very state they are looking for a cure for on a smartphone.
Smartphones also affect teenage sleep: 57 percent of teenagers slept two hours shorter in 2015 than their peers in 1991. People who do not get enough sleep are prone to depression and anxiety.
Teenagers usually stay online longer than adults, are allowed to access the Internet from a variety of locations, participate in a wider range of online activities, and are more likely to try new technologies. This contributes to the potential opportunities and challenges for young people online.
For the past year, children have encountered a wealth of deceptive content such as fake news, overly processed photos, hidden sponsored ads, stories from unverified sources, and games designed to take money from the inexperienced.
Technology is fun for teenagers and allows them to stay connected with their friends and family, which is important. Some teens will do this by spending a lot of time connecting with their friends on social media or hanging out with other players when playing multiplayer online games. It’s fine.
But it’s important to help them balance it with physical exercise, learning, and other types of play, and to make sure they leave enough time in their week for face-to-face time with people. Your teenager is never too old to go for a walk with you or to have dinner with your family without using a mobile phone.
Emotional Bonding
If a teen avoids almost every question you ask or deviates from the topic every time you want to know something about his private things, that means you first have to remove the pressure from them.
The best way to get them to confide in their parents is by participating in activities with them rather than saying anything specific, so choose the right place and time when you want your teenagers to open up to you.
The conversation is a basic way of expressing feelings, thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. It allows the teen to feel comfortable with you and build a strong relationship of trust.
Instead of formal therapy at home or in a therapist’s office, take your teen for a walk. You can tour the neighbourhood or take a walk in the park. This will cause more informal interaction.
Start a light conversation that talks about their days at school and their plans for the weekend. After the teenager seems to enjoy the conversation, move on to critical thoughts and concerns that you feel need discussion. Normalize their feelings and avoid asking too many questions.
It is often helpful for teenagers to be able to connect with who they are talking to. Try using a connected story from your childhood to include conversation. What are their plans for the future? Is there a problem that you as a parent should know about to help them?
When the teen starts to open up, ask him clarifying questions to make sure you understand what they are saying. Teenagers are moving into adulthood, so it is important for them to start making more and more decisions. Give them advice, but make sure they don’t feel like they’re being taught a lesson.
Remember that they love you and deep down they want to get along with you and have a relationship they can always rely on.
