7 Ways to Make Your Teens Miserable, Interview with Kathie Morrissey

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: 7 Ways to Make Your Teens Miserable, Interview with Kathie Morrissey. 7 Ways to Make Your Teens Miserable, Interview with Kathie Morrissey Kathie and Vicki recently met, although Kathie has been around for a long time with her Character Corner website. Vicki was excited to find another homeschool mom who shared a fun sense of humor while taking homeschooling seriously. She had to be serious about homeschooling: she homeschooled her eight children all the way through graduation. That's thirty-one years of homeschooling! (Her youngest graduated four years ago.) Kathie spends a lot of time with her fifteen grandkids now. She enjoys trying to keep their names straight! In non-COVID holidays, they have lots of fun and noise together (as well as day to day life.) Kathie began the Character Corner back in the 1990s (that is a LONG time ago). She has always shared resources she used and enjoyed, as well as creating curriculum for younger homeschoolers. Kathie enjoys sharing character development without being preachy or legalistic. We had some fun discussing things NOT to do while homeschooling high school! (We know our 7th Sisters don't really needed to be reminded, though!) Here are 7 ways to make your teens miserable! Being too controlling with your teens. It often backfires if we homeschooling parents try to over-control our teens. While our kids needed a lot of control when they are very young, we want to them to develop self-control and God-control by the time they are adolescents. It can be hard, as parents, to back off or ease off when we are used to being protective (and developmentally appropriate). However, backing off can protect our teens hearts. SO here are the 7 things to NOT do. Don't treat your teens with respect If a parent talks over, over corrects or criticizes their homeschool high schoolers, they are being disrespectful and unloving. As parents, we need to do more listening and less critiquing. Allow them to share ideas and the feelings in their hearts. For more on realistic expectations, check out Sabrina's talk on this Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode. Fear our teens' questions If a parent is afraid of our teens questions. Part of adolescence is asking hard questions, even about faith, family values and politics. Listen and wait. For more on having hard conversations with teens, check out this Homeschool Highschool episode. Never being happy with their decisions If we spend all of our energy preventing our teens' goofy decisions, we will break their spirits. We want to encourage them, ask questions, trust them and sometimes allow them to make mistakes. This develops our faith in God, our trust in God. Criticize them to their siblings Bad idea! There's nothing more hurtful to hear a parent complaining about them to their sibling (or anyone else). Bring your complaints to God, spouse and the teen. Work it out. This develops the fruit of the Spirit self-control in us moms. (You have probably noticed how homeschooling "helps" us developed so much fruit of the Spirit.) Don't bother to make our teens feel accepted Sometimes parents, in easing off with their teens, might forget to stay connected with them.