Sherri's thoughtful story yesterday about the teacher who told her class she had prayed for the best children to come to her class has made me think about all the ways in which we adults influence children.
Our teens are able to observe our behaviors and often reflect on how we treat others and what we say as acceptable behavior. So in thinking about this, I have a challenge for you as a parent. What are your expectations of yourself? What are your expectations of your teenager? I think that too many times we may say "well, he is just a teenager, what can you expect." We can expect a great deal from our teens. But we have to expect more from ourselves than we do of them. We have to raise our expectations of our own behavior before we can expect the best from our teens.
I received an email from a friend that described what we should do if we feel others are not valuing us. We should "look at how we have valued ourselves" and realize that if others are not valuing us, perhaps we are giving a message that we are not very valuable. Our teens could learn from this perspective, and so can we.
Dr Debra
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