"I hope she makes it home safely. It’s snowing and the roads are covered with ice. She isn’t a very experienced driver at 17 but I still let her journey out into the tundra praying she wouldn’t hit a sheet of black ice that looks like dry pavement. Am I nuts?!" Those were my thoughts two years ago when we lived in Michigan and my daughter was just learning to drive. Scary times. Had I explained to my daughter how to respond to a skid? Should she turn the wheel with the skid or against it? Was this covered in Driver’s Ed or is it simply “learn as you go?”
Providing Teen Dating Advice: Saving Lives
How do those parenting teens teach their kids everything there is to know about driving conditions and dating relationships? Both roads lead to hazardous situations that we can’t predict. Both driving and dating can go from safe to scary in 7 seconds flat. Will my daughter be able to use her head to avoid disaster or will she be frozen with fear? Without the right teen dating advice, will my son recognize that he is accelerating at a dangerous speed and know to slow down?
Just because those who are parenting teens aren’t sitting in the seat beside our kids doesn’t mean we stop instructing them on driving conditions. How often then should we be providing teen dating advice and addressing the manner in which our teens are handling their relationships?
My daughter may have passed Driver’s Ed but every day represents another test; another challenge. Maybe I have drilled “cautious dating” into her head a thousand times with my endless teen dating advice, but every day will be a new opportunity for her to get that right or wrong. Weather and traffic conditions prompt us to remind our teens to be safe on the roads every single day. How often do we evaluate our teen’s relationship safety and recognize that dry pavement could be black ice? Does your teen know how to avoid a catastrophic skid? Just like a proper driver’s education, the right teen dating advice could save your kid’s life!
Teen Dating Advice: Fundamental Tips for Those Parenting Teens
Here are some helpful tips for Teen Dating Advice that I have developed with my own kids, some of which have saved us from many of those midnight phone calls we all dread!
Teen Dating Advice #1: When your kids go out with friends or out on a date, save at least two other numbers into your phone and their phone in case of an emergency. Who are they out with? Do you have the parents’ numbers as well as the students’?
Teen Dating Advice #2: Get the address of your kid’s destination. My rule? If your physical address changes, you need to call me before you put the car in ‘drive’. If I don’t know, you don’t go!
Teen Dating Advice #3: Girls should ALWAYS have a phone charger in their purse. Guys and girls should also have one in the car with a hands-free device for emergencies only.
Teen Dating Advice #4: Have an emergency code for help that will enable your teen to let you know they are in a difficult spot without arousing suspicion from the person they are with. This could be anything, for example: “Is the dog feeling better?” In keeping with teen dating advice point #2, you should have their address, allowing you to come to the rescue at turbo speeds!
Teen Dating Advice #5: Those parenting teens should give their kids permission to blame them when they feel embarrassed about wanting out of a situation. Many teens will cave in under peer pressure because they don’t have an alibi. Give them one in advance. For example, tell your kids: “If you’re tired and want to go home, or are uncomfortable about a situation you are in, explain to your friends that I am being difficult and am insisting that you come home immediately.”
As someone who’s parenting teens, until you get to use the words ‘young adult’ with your child, they are officially teens and are guaranteed to still be ‘under construction’ in the brain development department.
Assume the responsibility of bridging that gap and being the missing piece. Not ALL the pieces; just the one that is not able to make the connection in a time of need.
Your thoughts on this teen dating advice?
Mama j