8 Strategies to Motivate Teens to Obey Parents

Adolescence is one of the most complicated stages that the little ones in the house go through, and sometimes some parents they may feel lost without knowing how to educate them and how to offer them what they need in this new period that is so crucial for their development.

In fact, one of the main characteristics of young people who are going through adolescence is their tendency to rebellion when it comes to facing any rules or norms of behavior inside or outside the home, something that can complicate family relationships and education strategies applied at home. In other words, in front of adolescents, it is difficult to be an authority figure. Therefore, in this article you will find several tips to motivate adolescents to obey the rules applied by parents, making them get involved in the fulfillment of this.

• Related article: "Educational Psychology: Definition, Concepts, and Theories"

How to motivate adolescents to follow the rules imposed by their parents?

It would be a mistake to assume that simply because they are adolescents, these young people will refuse to respect the rules or show a clear disinterest in the rules applied at home by adults; there is a lot we can do to ensure that they not only comply with them, but also have an interest in complying with them. Let's see it.

1. Encourage communication (without turning it into interrogations)

Communication is an essential tool to establish successful and satisfying interpersonal relationships. with anyone and also when educating children who are of adolescent age.

Fostering communication means creating a family climate conducive to our son feeling comfortable at the time to explain to us anything that has happened to you on a daily basis, be it problems, fears, doubts or obstacles vital. A communicative context must be created in which young people do not feel questioned or put to the test, and from which they can also obtain something valuable.

Communication with children can also be applied when educating them, and this can be achieved by explaining the reason for the rules to follow and ensuring that they understand how they can benefit from the existence of said rules rules.

• You may be interested in: "How to improve family communication? 4 keys"

2. Agree on the rules

Involving adolescents in the rules established in the family home is an excellent way of motivating them to get involved in common coexistence and make them understand that they are an important part of the family.

That is why agreeing to the rules with them, as far as possible, is one of the best ways for them to comply with them. in the future, since they will conceive them as something that challenges them and not as a set of imposed obligations and random.

In the same way, when establishing norms of any kind, we should not limit ourselves to applying punishments if they are not met, but rather we must create a system of fair rewards.

• Related article: "Types of motivation: the 8 motivational sources"

3. Avoid excessive control of your life

Another strategy that parents of adolescent boys and girls should always take into account is not try to control all aspects of their lives and allow them space and also freedom in your life private.

Respecting our child's individual freedom to live her life with autonomy will bring strength and legitimacy to the rules that are reasonable and can be applied to day-to-day life and coexistence in family.

4. offer rewards

As indicated, basing the education of children on a system of fair rewards can help us to Motivate them so that they want to obey their parents and get involved so that coexistence is optimal in all moment.

The rewards we can offer when the adolescent son or daughter does something well done and that is meaningful, with effort and dedication, and this must always be proportional to the objective achieved.

In addition to that, we must avoid having comparative grievances between brothers, always offering the same rewards to all children who do their job well.

5. Lead by example

Leading by example means that if we want children to do something in a certain way, we must start by doing it that way.

So, if we want our children not to have harmful habits in their lives such as drinking alcohol or smoking, we must offer them an appropriate role model by not doing it ourselves.

• You may be interested in: "The 6 keys to parenting"

6. recognize progress

Recognizing the adolescent's progress in behaving well contributes enormously to improving their self-esteem and her motivation to continue behaving like this, obeying each of the rules established.

Besides that, talk about and with them in positive terms, praising their effort, rewarding their successes and valuing all the good they do, is an excellent way to relate to our children and establish a positive emotional bond.

7. keep consistency

Maintaining consistency in the extended rules means that these rules must always be in force and must be adhered to by all members of the house.

If once they stop being applied, their value is completely lost, because the children may consider that their application is random and that our authority is in question.

8. offer alternatives

Another of the functions of parents to keep their adolescent children motivated in complying with the rules is to always offer alternatives when a change in behavior generates resistance in the adolescent.

This means that when the child does not want or is unable to follow a certain rule of conduct, we can offer him an alternative so that he complies with it and obeys her parents as well.

Are you looking for psychological assistance?

If you are interested in having professional psychological help for adolescents or families, please contact us. In psychoconsulting we can help you.