As parents of middle schoolers, you might sometimes face situations that you haven’t yet had to navigate as a parent of an elementary student. The guardian that your child needs at the age of 7 or 10 is not the same as the parent they need at 12 or 15.
Whether your child is in online, public, or private middle school. There come certain roles and responsibilities that parents of middle schoolers should know.
No matter what type of ups and downs your children face. Parents face them too, so it’s important to know how to deal with situations as parents the right way so that the adolescents can learn from their mistakes as well.
1. Give them ground to grow
It’s so easy to forget that the person your child is becoming now has opinions and wants to make certain decisions of their own.
Don’t try to shield your middle schooler from new experiences. If they fail, let them deal with it. It’s important to teach kids that their choices have consequences. If they didn’t study for a test and got an F, let them understand that you can’t come in and save them from a bad grade.
Instead, try to recognize new opportunities that will shape your children’s future. They need to deal with new experiences, conflicts and grow independent.
2. Set limits
Just as it’s easy to become a helicopter parent. It’s as easy to become uninvolved to the point where your child doesn’t know any limits. Some parents are afraid of setting boundaries, but what this results in is your child starts to think that rules – not just household rules – don’t apply to them.
They become entitled and think that they deserve special treatment not just from you but from everybody else. Recognize growth, but also make sure your children know the rules and the limits of their behavior.
3. Give your voice and presence; they still need it
As middle school years come along, you’ll notice that your child is starting to slowly pull away from you and turn to other friends or adults for advice. While this gives them new opportunities, they still need your voice of reason guiding them through difficult times. You don’t want to do too much, but you also don’t wanna do too little.
Children can be influenced in hundreds of different directions by various friends and adults. When this happens, your responsibility is to speak the truth, have their backs, and guide them into developing a moral compass.
4. Don’t project your past onto your child
Whatever baggage you may have from your childhood and middle school years. They will come to show themselves in your parenting choices.
Don’t let your past mistakes guide the way you allow your child to deal with a problem. In other words, don’t parent out of fear.
All you want is the best for your child, but projecting your past onto your children just to save them from the same mishaps you faced, isn’t going to make up for your history.
The best way to deal with this is to recognize the baggage you might be carrying and try and resolve the insecurities within yourself so that you can guide your middle schooler the right way.
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