“Hormone” is a word that strikes fear in the hearts of many otherwise confident adults. We have all heard horror stories of how sweet, loving children suddenly turn into screaming, tearful tyrants who may just be capable of seriously harming themselves or others.
While that may be the case in some homes, I think there are things parents can do to lessen the negative effects of hormones on your tween’s behavior and your own sanity. I have used many of these ideas in my home and have seen them work for my friends and their now adult daughters when they were in the tween stage.
These tips for “tween whispering” (or “teen whispering”) are in no particular order, but hopefully you will find a few of them work for you too.
Most people look at me as if I am a little addled when they discover my major in college. In fact, they usually won’t continue the conversation until I have offered an explanation for my choice.
Know the fastest way to get a child to whine? Make them get up and do a boring chore while they are doing something they love to do! Let’s face it, work can be boring. If it’s physical work, you can become sore and tired. Mental work can cause mental exhaustion and even headaches. The problem is, God calls us to work and work hard. Not to receive forgiveness for our sins, but because we want to do what God calls us to do.