Good Guidance to Follow when Fostering Teenagers
It’s important to understand the different obstacles that you may face when fostering a teen. Handling teenagers and their emotions can be difficult at the best of times, even for parents dealing with their own children. When it comes to fostering teenagers, there a few things you should consider to help with developing a positive relationship.
There is no right or wrong way to address situations with your child; as each child and every family will respond differently! We’ve put together some good guidance for you to follow when fostering teenagers to help steer you in the right direction. We hope you find this advice useful!
Listen
This may seem like quite an obvious piece of advice; but listening to your foster child is essential in helping your relationship grow. Sometimes, just sitting back and listening can be a much more effective way of gaining an insight in to a teenagers life. When you are curious about something going on in your foster teens life, it can be easy to start asking lots of questions, but this might not always be so effective. Young people are usually more likely to open up if they don’t feel any pressure to share particular information.
Show Trust
Finding ways to show trust in your teenager will go a long way. Most young adults seek independence when they reach their teenage years; and feeling trusted is a huge part of that. Ask them to do small favours for you to show that you can rely on them. When you volunteer responsibility to a teenager, it shows that you think they can handle it. Letting them know you have faith in them will make them more likely to rise to the occasion.
Do Things Together
During these years spending time doing things together that you both enjoy is essential. Whether it’s yoga, cooking, or watching sport – it’s nice to be together and not feel pressured to talk about anything personal. If you encourage them to try new things, offer to do it together. It’s important that your foster teen feels like they can share positive experiences with you, knowing that you won’t ask intrusive questions or pry.
Be a Role Model
All young people need to have positive role models in their life, so try to be someone that your foster teen can look up to! Be passionate in the things that you do, and show a clear set of values. Your actions, even more than your words, are critical in helping them adopt good moral and ethical standards. Analysing the way that you deal with certain situations will make them less likely to make bad decisions in their teenage years.
The most important thing it to get to know your foster teen as well as you can. By being open and honest with them, they will learn to trust you and respect you. Try to put yourself in their shoes, and remember that being a teen is tough!
Fostering Teenagers
Fostering teenagers is such a rewarding experience; so if you’re interested we would encourage you to get in touch with our friendly team. There are young people living in your area whose lives you could make a great deal of difference to. If you would like to get in touch, you can call, text or WhatsApp Rachael on 07938 575 738; or send an email to foster@lorimerfostering.com. If you would prefer us to call you, please submit your details using the form below; and we’ll get back to you soon!
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