In his bestselling book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey says, “Children desperately want to open up, even more to their parents than to their peers. And they will, if they feel their parents will love them unconditionally and will be faithful to them afterwards and not judge or ridicule them.”
Unconditional love is essential to a strong relationship with your teen and a key element of effective communication. But what does it mean and how do you foster it in your own home?
Parenting a teen is difficult enough when things are going fairly smoothly, but it becomes doubly hard when your child rebels, argues, disobeys or puts his or her safety at risk. We feel so responsible for our son or daughter that we sometimes aren’t as patient, understanding, kind or loving as we should be.
How do we express unconditional love for our teen when there’s so much at stake, when she’s put herself at risk, when he’s made a bad decision, when defiance sets in?
The path to adulthood is filled with potholes. Kids make mistakes. They ignore advice, disrespect your values and sometimes emulate the wrong models. They are convinced of their invincibility. These are serious obstacles. They can, however, be overcome.