Parent Teen Night
Did you know that 77% of teens want to spend more time with their parents?
While teens do start gravitating toward spending time with their peers and it can feel like they no longer want to spend time with you, it’s not true. We still have a massive influence on who are teens are becoming!
Plus, there are just SO MANY THINGS they need to know before they move out. Enter Parent Teen Night (PTN for short). Habits and routines are powerful and it’s important that we teach our teens deliberately and not wait for moments to magically appear.
One night a week, set aside time to actively teach and connect with your teen. Some weeks you can just chat for a few minutes or watch part of a movie or TV show together. Other weeks choose something from this portal inside my member area, The Inspired Teen Classroom. It includes:
Ted Talks
YouTube videos
PDF’s
Questions to discuss
Conversation starters
Interactive videos I have made specifically for PTN
Activities
Each month I will choose a topic, as well, and the page will have some articles/book suggestions for parents, 7-8 ideas for parent teen nights to narrow it down for you, when you need to worry as a parent, any PDF’s I have made that fit the topic, and some conversation starters.
If you held a twenty minute Parent Teen Night once a week 50 weeks a year during the teen years, you would spend a whopping 6,000 minutes deliberately teaching and interacting with your teenager. That is a LOT of time!
Here are a few tips for starting a successful PTN:
Choose a time each week so that it becomes a habit. If you skip too many weeks in a row it gets harder to continue the tradition.
Let your teen choose the topics. You can read a few options from the website and then let them choose what sounds the most interesting to them.
Occasionally surprise them with a special treat. You can purchase it ahead of time or take them out for something last minute.
Mix fun with educational. Resist the urge to lecture! They will start to dread it if you lecture too often.
Make it non-negotiable. If it is creating a lot of contention don’t keep going, but don’t allow your teen’s moods to keep you from doing what you know is important.
J.P Sartre said simply, “We are our choices.” Choose to parent deliberately. Choose to inspire. Choose to teach. Choose to spend time with your teen. Choose to motivate.
You can do this and I can help!
My membership area also includes my full course called Teens and Screens: Parenting with Hope in a Digital Age. Find out more about that here!