How can you help your teenager choose their direction?
I hear from many parents. I see a lot of anxiety or stress from those who fear their child is going down the wrong path, despair of their choices, project their desires, worry about the future and impose their choices on their child, fear being lax in respecting his choices, etc. Most parents want the best for their kids.
However, in today's world, 17-year-olds and their parents often see the future differently.
Due to uncertainties, many parents stick to their previous criteria of choice: possibilities, reputation, profession, wages, advancement, career, “good company” etc. Despite certain exceptions, young people do not fit this antiquated ideal.
Young people today won't stay with a company for life after business or engineering school. As mentioned in a previous piece, this pattern is over. They will switch between experiences. Not all tomorrow's occupations are known. His inventions are frequent.
Through various training classes, they will develop their abilities and distinctiveness. Orientation is a journey that can be altered. This orientation thought helps me step back.
Avoid revealing our functioning and stressors.
Then your teen may act uninterested and avoid the topic. Teenagers live in different timeframes than adults, which is normal!
If you consider it an emergency because you must fulfil your wishes in 3 months, you treat these 3 months as remote. This is normal. To avoid conflict and keep the thread going, use nonviolent communication. To feel reassured, describe your issues and your preference to discuss them periodically.
Ask yourself, as a parent, how we feel when helping your teen choose their orientation. What's mine and my child's? etc.
Help your teen select orientation by listening to their feelings and boosting their self-esteem.
Stress may explain his reluctance to discuss his orientation. He appears to be ignoring the issue and everything is good by not discussing it.
Talk to him with warmth, encouragement, and confidence to modify this and help him reflect on himself. Your teen needs self-confidence to make decisions. Assuring him he can make mistakes will boost his confidence.
Self-knowledge and self-confidence help one take responsibility for their thinking. Can you get him to consider his life/world/society priorities? Does he prefer to do what? He's skilled where? talented? In 5, 10, or 15 years, how does he see himself? Good self-knowledge promotes these decisions' relevance.
Your advice may help him, but remember that it's his life and he's the most important thing. Parental pressure to pursue a career route may not be the greatest way to make your child happy.
Feeling supported in his professional goals, your listening, and your interest drive his thinking and make him accountable.
Ask him what he imagines doing after this or that training to help him construct a "job" and realise that his path may not be the best or only one. He can change his selections.
Finally, invite him to open days, trade events, career forums, etc. He can project himself into the future better if he can discuss his ambitions and doubts in real life. If he can chat to the son or daughter of a friend who took this course or school 3 or 4 years ago, that's great too! External resources can assist youngsters make decisions and help parents let go!
Finally, as a parent, you may help your teen choose their orientation.