What is the best piece of advice you ever received, as a single parent (mother) of teens?

Regardless of being single or married parent of a teen, the biggest thing is is communication, followed closely by honesty.





With out communication or honesty children and teens become confused, about what is expected of them, this especially true when parents are sending mixed messages, such as smoking and drinking alcohol and then tell their kids not smoke or drink because its bad for you.





With any luck if we communicate and are honest %26amp; open with our kids they will be to talk too us or ask for help when it matters.





Good luckWhat is the best piece of advice you ever received, as a single parent (mother) of teens?
sum thing I found out on my own was that we are a complete family no matter how many people are in it....share %26amp; be open...do not be ugly.What is the best piece of advice you ever received, as a single parent (mother) of teens?
you are your childs mother...not their friend!
I'm a teen right now, but I can do have some empathy for you. I feel like I treat my parents a lot better than some of my friends, but I still would hate to be treated the way I treat my parents. Sorry about that. As a teen, we just want respect and not to be patronized. Treat us like adults, even though we aren't yet.





Oh, and talk to your teen about sex. As teens, we really do want you to. We want to know where you stand. Can we ask you to take us to the doctor to get birth control, or do we have to sneak out behind your back and go to Planned Parenthood? I remember talking to my friends when I was 14 or 15-ish, and only one of my friends had the sex talk. The rest of us were actually jealous. We really do want to be able to talk to you about things. Sure, we have great friends we can talk to, but we have no one to talk to when our friends are what we want to talk about.





Just remember that your values influence the values of your child, but he/she ultimately gets to pick his/her own values. Don't try to control her life. You can never, NEVER control another human being. You can only influence.





And don't have the attitude ';You're mine until you're 18.'; If you do, they'll count down the days. Instead, start a timetable right now, and estimate what age you expect to give them various freedoms. Driving your car, staying out until a certain time, being able to go to a party, etc. Don't show this timetable to your kid, just keep it as your reference. Don't make the child fight for his/her freedoms. Give them to him/her when you feel like they deserve it, even if they didn't ask. Becoming legal shouldn't be something that happens overnight. It should be something that gradually starts happening as soon as you're born.





I can't imagine how hard it must be to be a parent to a teen, especially if you're single. Hell, there should be at least 4-5 parents PER teen because if I had to parent myself, I would def need a lot of time to cool down. Good luck, and remember: If you screw up, there's always therapy to fix it! (jk, just a joke i heard once)
My mom said, ';soap inside of a sock wont leave bruises.'; (shes setting beside me and answered without missing a beat lol). She has a sense of humor, and that's probably what got her through our rough times. She went through divorce and bankruptcy, and she is very strong. I don't know if we would have made it without our sense of humor.
Treat people the way you want to be treated.
Being a single parent of a teen and soon to be pre teen, my best advise is my own '; Communication';. Always talk to your teen about anything, let him/her know that you are there if they need to talk about anything. Teens will make mistakes and test you, and it is how you handle the situation with them and talking with them.


I never ever put down or name call my kids ever!! and i always make it known that I am doing my best as a parent for their best interest. Just keep communication lines open, and get to know their friends.
';Nothing is what it seems';