teens are risk takers
Teens are designed to take risks and be curious! They are suppose to try things......and they totally should!
Some good, and some not so good risks will definitely occur during teen years but what is important is how we react as parents.
Taking Risks is Crucial for Teens.
Of course, educating our teens on what is right and wrong is critical, and I believe as parents we can also model this behavior for them.
Allowing teens to figure things out is a game changer. They are not allowed to fail or succeed on their own when we come to their rescue or do things for them.
Teens pick up from an early age that they have to do things perfectly. Perfect at academics, Perfect in sports, Perfect in performing arts. Pressuring teens to do well in academics, sports, and activities leads teens to put additional pressure on themselves to be PERFECT.
They learn they can’t take risks, they have to do exactly as they are told, and to do it right.
This leads teens feeling anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, and unconfident. Teens feel failing is not an option……ever. They also believe failing is bad.
Failure Gets a Bad Wrap!
Failure (messing up) is important for all of us. Failure is where the opportunity to learn is!
GROWTH IS IN THE MISTAKES
Without risks our lives can become stagnant and boring. We end up declining new opportunities because we are scared to mess up or fail. Or we believe we are not ready to take a step forward because we are not perfect enough.
Nothing big or exciting comes into our reality if we don’t try new things. When we try new things we inevitably fail along the way. Failure does not mean we are not good enough. It just means we have to try a different way. We truly fail our way to success. All successful people have failed multiple times, but the difference is they try again and keep trying until they figure it out! They do not attach the failure to who they are.
Perhaps your teen is full of anxiety and stress because they feel the need to do everything perfect. When I ask the teens I coach “why” they feel the need to be perfect, they respond they do not want to disappoint their parents and won’t feel “good enough” if they fail. These teens usually stay on the path of least resistance which diminishes their creativity, motivation, and willingness to try something new.
I encourage you all to take risks, try something new! Give it a go! Discuss the ups and downs with your teen. Let them see what you learned when something did not go as planned. Provide insight on how you course corrected. Let your teen see that you survived and that it was no big deal. Fill them in on how you managed through and what you learned.
Celebrate failures! Give your teen permission to fail!
If your teen is ready to be a risk taker and live life with less anxiety and stress let's connect and work 1:1 together.
