My teenager is not happy with the subject choices they made, what do I do?
It’s “School Holiday” time and the money is pouring out of your bank account thick and fast. You are running around trying to manage your own career and take them out, yet still manage to feel guilty. Your teenager has been sitting on the couch watching copious amounts of YouTube and to be honest you can’t wait to get them out of the house and back to school.
As we all know teenagers change their minds frequently, so the subjects they picked in September last may not be what they want to do now.
How do we even manage this process?
- Have some discussions as to why they want to change the subjects and what they could have them changed too. Sometimes we need to connect with our teenagers to find out if they are changing subjects because they are scared of the workload or if they have genuinely changed their mind. This is where knowing our child comes into important play.
- Link them up to a mentor. Maybe you having a discussion with them after you have had hours of that school holiday negative banter is not the perfect time to connect. That is when we need an outside influence. This does not mean you have failed as a parent. In facts it’s quite the contrary, getting a mentor at those points in your relationship when your communication with your teen is not working so well is smart parenting move. If they connect better with one of your friends or an outside family member (A good person you can trust) then you’re still communicating with them. It’s just via someone else. As long as they have someone other than their friends to go to for some sound advice, then you know they are in safe hands. You can even have a quiet word with that adult they seem to connect about the issues so they have a head up. It’s all about helping your teen making positive choices.
- Teachers go back to school way earlier than students do. So don’t be shy to email the teacher in charge and get in early for the subject change. They might be able to organise the change before school starts and then you can get the right books before school goes back. Even get your teen to send the email. Give them responsibility. It is their change so they need to be involved as much a possible. Remember as parents we need to give our teenagers more and more responsibility. So let them take the lead where possible. We want to support them to make the best possible choices. It’s their life lessons.
