Stop Nagging Your Child: Children, especially teenagers hate to be nagged. Tell them something once and remind them every ten minutes until they do it.
Don't Ask So Many Questions: Kids hate it when an adult asks them hundreds of questions in a row. Just ask one or two and be satisfied with that.
Don't Probe For Information: When your kid comes home from school and you ask him how it was and all he says is good, don't probe him any farther. If he has something important to tell you, he will tell you.
Allowance: Give your child a weekly allowance so he won't beg you for money all the time. The amount can vary based on what you feel is acceptable for your child. However, this amount must be fixed and can't go lower one week and then higher the next.
Dating: When your daughter brings her new boy friend home, don't ask him any embarrassing questions and don't threaten him in any way. All you will be doing is creating unwanted tension between you and your daughter.
Sex: Don't instigate the “sex talk” with your child. Let them come to you when they are ready. If you go to them, the conversation will get very embarrassing for both of you and you won't get your point across.
Responsibility: Give your child a responsibility for doing something. This can be a wide range of things, but the most effective one is having the responsibility to be home at a certain time (curfew). This lets your child know that you trust him and will in turn make him start to trust you more.
Help: Only give your child help when they ask for it. Most teenagers like to think they are independent from their parents and when you step in to help, they feel like they need to pull away from you even more.
Encouragement: Always encourage and praise your child when they do something good. This lets them know you are proud of them for what they accomplished. If they don't succeed at something, encourage them to try it again or to find something else they are good at.
Love: Always remind your child that you love them. Sometimes a child can forget you love them and will pull away from you unless you remind them from time to time. Tell your child that even when they are bad, you will still love them no matter what.
I hope that I have been very helpful to you and that you will continue to love and support your kids. If you have any other suggestions besides these, I encourage you to leave them as a comment so other people can benefit from them.
