Getting Your Teen to Think Outside the Box
There’s a lot to be said for thinking outside the box. Few people who have succeeded have done so following the crowd, e.g. Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc. So although you should teach your teen to have a healthy respect for societal rules, once those are down pat, there should be room for individual interpretation in those areas where there is wiggle room.
Clearly this is not applicable to rules like the driving speed limit, or yelling, “fire” in a crowded theatre, but there is plenty of room for individual thought in multiple ways teens chose to express themselves. Giving a school oral report on a famous gangster, professional aspirations may start with a summer internship in high school instead of college and your teen may chose to take a year off school for a valued life experience rather than go straight from high school to college to graduate school, etc.
One way teens learn how they fit in this world is learning how to make the world work for them. It can take a leap of faith on your part, but when your teen has the confidence to understand what their needs are and the vision to know how they can make that work for them, they deserve your support.
How do you encourage this thinking process?
Discover your teens areas of interest even if it is not what you would have chosen for them. They may not know which career they want, but they may know they want to work with animals or help people. Chatting with them can help generate ideas on how to get exposure in these areas of interest like volunteering at the zoo or helping out at a local homeless shelter. These are uses of their time that trump sitting in front of the computer or playing video games especially in the summer or during holiday time.
A teen that has the confidence to stand out may have the confidence to go after what they want in life. Finding a general theme in how your teen is different will help you handle the occasional blue hair or odd piercing and give you the faith to be hopeful about the future that awaits your teen.
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