Eight Teenagers... How to survive teen years!

The last few weeks have been a bit tough going. My husband came to me the other night and asked, "When our eldest was a teen there was drama, why is is so much harder now?" My answer, "Times two!" We have two teens at home.

I look at my FB feed and have yet to see friends who equal my parents whopping eleven children with eight teens at home at once. I know people have asked my Mom how she did it. She almost always gives a nice generic answer, coupled with a joke. The reality is, she had a therapist at one point and she cried a lot. She went to therapy because she needed to figure out how to manage one of my siblings, and she needed to learn to set boundaries. 

This is a raw fact, not a glorified story. My Mom is great, she had a therapist help her with her parenting skills and she became an even better parent. None of us are perfect and the teen years can make the terrible twos look like a stroll through the park.

If you have teens and 

-they tell you that you're old
-they tell you that you're clueless
-they challenge your every move
-they lie to you
-they exhaust you
- you think they might not pass school

.....then you're normal.

I find parents of teens need to be sensitive enough to understand their kids and what they are going through but tough enough, with thick enough skin to endure those years and yes to put their foot down when needed.

Ahhh the teen years; I have six years of them left.

—Allison Ochs Social Worker M.S.W. , Coach, Expat, Mother of three, Wife