Every parent will have to help a teenager deal with a broken heart. Some will not be supportive or even care but for those who do here are 10 ways to help you teenager heal from a broken heart. Unfortunately teenagers and kids are getting into relationships at younger and younger ages today. We can tell them that they can't go out with someone but you might as well save your breath. Even though they can't actually date they say they are going out with someone. I was shocked to hear my son in second grade say he was going out with someone. We asked him where they went out to, the playground?
When a child or teenager has close relationships with their parents they are less likely to be as horribly damaged by a break up with a girlfriend or boyfriend. That is not saying that they are not going to hurt but they their self-esteem will not be as torn down. Today they feel that their whole self-esteem hinges on having a boyfriend or girlfriend. If they are not as attractive or as thin as others deem acceptable it doesn't matter what a parent says they are still going to be hurt by the opinions of their peers. What we can do as parents is to do damage control.
Hopefully we as parents have a relationship close enough to our teenagers and children that we know what is going on in their personal relationships. Hopefully their love lifes will be less intense until they are mature enough to deal with it better. When we as adults have suffered broken hearts and can hardly deal with it, how can we expect our teenagers to be able to do it easily?
- Pray about it and if they will let you pray with and for them. In the prayer ask God to comfort them and help you to be the best support for them that you can be. Let them know that God loves them and is there for them. Also let them know that it is okay to be really pissed off and that God is big enough to handle it. Tell them that you love them and that you know how it feels to have your heart broken.
- Tell them that the break up may not last forever. That is important because at the time of a break-up no one wants to believe that they will never be with that person again.
- Listen to them. Be with them. Have hot chocolate and watch movies or television with them. Just no romance movies.
- Spend time with them. Go out and do something physical. Ride bikes, walk in the park. Spend time by a lake or woods. Nature can be very healing.
- Encourage them to journal. They need to write about their feelings about the person. All the things that they loved and also all the things they hated. Maybe write out a pro and con list and that can open their eyes to the parts of the relationship that weren't so good.
- Tell them that it is okay to be angry. They can either express the anger with you or go beat on some pillows or a punching bag by themselves if they don't want you to see them.
- Encourage them to talk to their friends about it. This is a very important time for them to be able to spend time with friends, preferably ones who have had their hearts broken too.
- Let them get a makeover or haircut. Encourage them to work on their physical health and appearance if need be.
- Let them know that a new hobby or sport would help them to get out of their emotional pain.
- By now they may even began to start noticing that there are other fish in the sea. Maybe the fish that they just dumped or dumped them wasn't all that great after all. Hopefully they will take time before they jump into another relationship.
Last of all let them know that they do not have to be in a relationship with a significant other. They not only have parents, or a parent that loves them, but they can have a very loving relationship with themselves and God.
