May 31: Tapping Teen Control

“Teens want to feel in control of their lives,” explains Julie Morgenstern, who co-wrote Organizing From the Inside Out for Teens with her high-school-age daughter.

Since most teens have innate organizational skills, here are their four tips for tapping into them:

▪ Talk the talk.  Avoid phrases like, “Your room is a pigsty.”  Would you help someone who was insulting you?

▪ Personalize your pitch.  Offer teens positive reasons to be more organized, especially the benefits they themselves will gain.

▪ Flip the focus.  Point out the ways your teen is naturally neat and offer to help organize the rest of the room in the same way.

▪ Break it down.  Agree to a definition of “organized.” Then, make a list of areas that could use such organizing and tackle them together.

No matter our age, we can all use positive reinforcement to make changes for the better, as we welcome help along the way.

I waited patiently for the Lord; He…heard my cry. 

(Psalm 40:1)

When I seek Your help, Father, You are never far from me.