Help Your Marriage Thrive While Parenting TeensIhe Atụ

It is very normal to be riding a rollercoaster during this stage, but the teen years are NOT destined to be bad years! Teens can be goofy, moody, quiet and loud; they can frustrate you and entertain you. They will certainly make you laugh … and possibly make you cry.

But part of our kids’ growth process through adolescence into adulthood is that they must learn to think for themselves rather than let mom & dad do it forever. Testing out who they are and who they want to become is part of growing into independence.

So, when you find yourself in the season of parenting teens, take heart. It’s a season. It won’t last forever. Your teen will someday put the ways of childhood behind, as Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians 13 when he refers to putting away childish things.

Two things in Galatians 6:9 are helpful to notice as you start this plan: 1) the principle of sowing, and 2) that growing things are seasonal.

Biblically, sowing is always tied to reaping: There is a natural response when seeds are sown. This is encouraging as a parent, because although we cannot control the fruit that will grow, we can control whether we sow good seeds by putting intentional time and energy into our parenting. Teaching our children well, going to church as a family, praying for them, speaking life into them. Sowing “good” today will lead to reaping “in due season.”

Then there’s the idea of seasons. We learn a lot through the way God designed all of creation: Seeds grow into mature plants, babies grow into mature adults, and the sun rises and sets daily as winter, spring, summer, and fall take their natural courses. Living things do not remain in one stage forever, but grow according to God’s design.

I pray you will enjoy an adult relationship with your child that lasts many more years than these teen years do!

Today, consider what you are sowing into your teen, and trust God’s design for this season.