the best advice for parents of troubled teens
In this article is some of the best advice for parents of troubled teens that I’ve heard. Early in 2015, I interviewed Nathan Mitchell, the Clinical Director of the ANASAZI Foundation. The ANASAZI Foundation is a family focused intervention program that helps troubled youth. (And by “troubled” I mean someone who is struggling with the challenges of life. So by that definition we’re all, at one point or another, troubled.)
During the interview, I asked Nathan what he might tell parents of troubled teens. Now, this is a tricky area to offer advice because every situation is unique and requires prayerful consideration, patience, and effort; it’s really difficult to condense something as important as that down to a simple soundbite.
Nevertheless, Nathan said some pretty amazing things (which I’ve compiled into a playlist here) and toward the end of the interview he said something that was particularly powerful. To be honest, I think it’s some of the best advice I’ve ever heard—for any relationship.
“A lot of times, when I’m talking to parents, I ask them to consider this interview that we all imagine we’ll have with God, at the end of our lives. Because, as a parent, sometimes I fall into that trap of thinking that the interview with God is going to have on it: Did your kids all go to church? Did they stay on the strait and narrow path? Did they not do drugs? Did they all, you know, follow that pattern?
“I don’t think He’s going to ask ‘What did you do with these children that I gave you? How many of them did you bring back?’ I think the question that He’s going to ask is ‘Did you learn to love them? Because that’s why I put them with you. That’s why I put that person in your life—in a very specific way—so that you could learn how to love the way that I love.’
You can watch the FULL video below:
