8 Practical Tips To Be An Independent Teen

Do you want to ensure your teen grows up to become an independent adult? Do you think it is a good idea to help your teen become independent even through these crucial years?

If you are not sure how to help your teen along his journey to independence, read on to know about eight simple tips for helping them to become an independent teens.

How To Help A Teen Become Independent?

Here are some practical and easy tips that will help you make your teen more independent:

1. Understand He Is Not A Child Anymore:

As a parent, you may feel your teenager is still a child, but that does not mean the world will see him as one.

• Tell your teenager that the first step towards becoming independent is to realize that he is not a child anymore. It is wrong for your teen to expect that people will treat him as a child.

• Tell him to start behaving more like a mature adult if he wants people to take him more seriously.

How To Do It: Tell him to know how people treat an adult and expect the same.

[ Read: Ways To Help Your Teen Make Smart Decisions ]

2. Let Your Teen Take Responsibility For His Actions:

Teaching the value of responsibility to your teenager is a key step towards helping him become independent.

• Tell your teen that it is always important to take responsibility for one’s actions. People like interacting with those who are responsible and can stand up for themselves.

• Your teen may make mistakes, but tell him it is a natural part of learning and growing up. Ask him to own his mistakes as well as feel happy about anything good he does.

How To Do It: Tell him to own up, be honest and admit he did something wrong.

[ Read: Teaching Teenagers Responsibility ]

3. Let Your Teen Do Things That Will Help Him Gain Trust:

If you want your teen to be independent, help him become more responsible and win the trust of people.

• Teach your teen that to be independent, it is important first to gain the trust of his peers and adults. To do so, your teen needs to act more responsibly.

• Once people see that they can trust your teen, they will give him a responsibility to handle independently.

How To Do It: Ask your teen to follow your rules, always keep you informed about where he is and make it a habit to listen to his elders.

4. Let Your Teen Start Doing Things On His Own:

If your teen wants to be independent, there are many or most things he will have to do on his own.

• Tell him he is old enough to take care of certain basic things. Let him help you where he can and do things on his own.

• He can ask for your help, but let him start taking the initiative.

How To Do It: Tell him to make a meal at home, look after the plants, opt to do the family grocery shopping on the weekends.

[ Read: Self Esteem Activities For Teens ]

5. Help Your Teen Learn Cooking:

It may sound boring and not necessary at all, especially with the many eating out options that are so easily available today.

• Learning to cook will help your teen be independent and not rely on anyone for something as basic and important as food.

• Once your teen learns to cook, he will not have to go for junk food or restaurant meals. Not only will he learn to save money, but will also inculcate a healthier food habit.

How To Do It: Help your teen learn the basics of cooking at home. If your teen is interested, enroll him in a beginners’ cooking class. You can also ask him to look up interesting recipe ideas online and try them at home.

6. Ask Your Teen To Prioritize Well:

As an independent person, your teen should be able to know what is important and in what order.

• Tell your teen that he has to make a distinction between tasks that are of priority and those that he can do during his free time.

• Your teen should understand that, even though, some things may seem critical, they can be put off for later. On the other hand, he may postpone the completion of a few crucial tasks.

How To Do It: Help your teen prepare a list of his daily activities. Ask him to rate the daily things in order of priority, starting from what he feels is the most urgent to what he feels he can do later. Tally the same with your preference and show him whether he is right or needs to re-think.

[ Read: Teaching Life Skills To Teenagers ]

7. Teach Him To Be Safe:

One of the biggest fears that you may have as a parent about your teen’s sudden independence is his safety.

• Ask your teen to enroll in a self-defense class. Once your teen knows how to defend himself in any potential danger, it will be easier for him to be independent.

• Teach your teen the importance of being safe no matter how sure he is of his self-defense skills. As a safety measure, tell him that he should avoid going to places that are not safe. He should also avoid going out with people, friends or strangers with whom he is not comfortable.

How To Do It: Ask him to avoid taking lifts from strangers or going to house parties where he does not personally know the hosts.

8. Your Teen Should Know Whom To Call In Distress:

Your teen needs to know about all the help numbers he can call for assistance when he is in danger or needs help.

• Encourage your teen to maintain a small diary with all important numbers jotted down. It is important to keep a directory handy in the case of emergencies.

• Your teen should know where the closest police station and hospital are and how to reach there in an emergency.

How To Do It: Take your teen along to the police station and hospital to know how to contact them for emergency assistance.

These parenting tips can help you ensure that your independent teenagers are in making.

Have you tried these tips? Did they help know how to be an independent teenager? Let us know in the comments box below.

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