keeping romance alive in the parenting teenagers stage
Remember that feeling of insecurity and anxiety that resulted from our inexperience as first-time parents? It’s back again: this time it’s the parenting teenagers stage. It is a whole new world of romance when your teen kids are watching, learning, commenting, and interfering with the process!
The Parenting Teenagers Stage Can Be Easy:
Teenagers are old enough to understand and, at times, even carry on intelligent and meaningful conversations!
Nurturing meaningful and loving relationships with teens helps propel them into a successful future!
Eventually, your teens grow into a relationship with you of mentoring, coaching, and friendship that is second to none!
The Parenting Teenagers Stage Can Be Hard:
Teens live in the most complex, demanding, and potentially—dangerous time in history!
We, as parents, may feel we are living multiple lives through our teenagers! We have little control over their decisions, yet, we feel the emotional impact of their choices!
This stage demands openness: open to the questions needing honest answers; open and available access to talk to you when they are ready to talk; and open dialogue to say what needs to be said. Openness like this isn’t easy.
Tips for Couples In the Parenting Teenagers Stage:
Get a lock on your bedroom door. You won’t barge unannounced into their space—they shouldn’t into yours.
Sex may not be as spontaneous with teens around—so then, let it be intentional! Let the anticipation in planning supplement joy of spontaneity.
Work hard at fanning the flames of romance with your teens around—you are demonstrating how important your marriage is! You are modeling what true love is all about!
Although keeping romance alive during the Parenting Teenagers Stage is both easy and hard…the key is to enjoy this stage of your marriage!
This is part 4 of a 5-part series: Keeping Romance Alive in Every Season of Marriage.
