Parenting Teens - August 31, 2012
Day 15 - Love Language - Thoughtful Presents
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Teenagers needs the confidence that comes from knowing they are loved. Their behaviour often acts like a gauge showing how full of love their internal “emotional tank” is. Today, we introduce the concept of the five love languages as a way of expressing love to our teenagers in order for them to feel loved.
- Our teenagers’ greatest need is to feel loved and accepted during this enormous transition in their lives a time of:
- self- discovery
- pushing for independence
- much self-questioning
- peer pressure
- they can experience a lot of self-doubt and feel awkward and unlovable
- confidence rests on:
- security (knowing they are loved)
- self-worth (knowing they are of value)
- significance (knowing there is a purpose to their lives)
- seek to keep their emotional tank” full of LOVE:
- their behavior acts like the gauge to show how full of love they feel
- knowing that they are loved and accepted enables them in the long-term:
- to resist peer pressure when they need to
- to make good choices
- to build close relationships
Discovering how our teenagers feel loved
- discover the primary way each teenager feels loved, whether it’s through:
- time
- words
- touch
- presents
- actions
- (see Gary Chapman, The Five Love Languages of Teenagers)
- importance of a particular love language may have changed as a child has grown older
Question: Which of the five way of expressing love was most important for you during your upbringing?