The Conscious Parent

your presence and feel your unconditional faith in their ability to handle
their life.
If there’s any age at which the issue of safety is paramount, it’s the
teen years, which are when children are at greatest risk from peer
pressure and the potential of immature acts of self-destructiveness.
Nevertheless, we can’t jump in and try to control our teens’ lives. If we
do so, they are resourceful and will find a way to lie to us and do
precisely as they wish—and then we are likely to feel helpless and
perhaps enraged. The more intrusive we are, the less our teens will
confide in us. During this period of their lives, to trust them is our
spiritual discipline.
Once we own the limits of our influence in our children’s lives,
paradoxically we continue to be hugely influential. Exuding total and
unconditional acceptance in our daily presence and conversations with
them encourages them to come to us when they need to. Our best chance
of keeping them safe and empowered is to validate who they intrinsically
are.