Episode 127: How to Love Your Teen on Their Mental Health Journey—with Kristen Hatton
As we’ve parented our five children through the years, we’ve held them when the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. We’ve listened as they questioned their worth, identity, and if the hard season they were walking through would ever end.
We have spent plenty of time in the waiting rooms of counselors and therapists when our children were struggling. And we’ve spent even more time in prayer when we just didn’t know what they needed or how to help.
If you are a parent, you’ve likely found yourself in a similar position at some point. You may even be questioning how you can support your teen with their mental health right now.
That’s why we are so grateful to welcome Kristen Hatton to the podcast to have this important conversation. Kristen is a counselor, author, mother of three young adult children, and host of the Redemptive Parenting podcast, where she equips parents with wisdom and hope. Kristen is also the author of a powerful new book, Parenting Ahead: Preparing Now for the Teen Years.
In this episode, Kristen shares:
- How family mealtime can have a powerful impact on our children’s mental health
- Three signs you should seek additional support for your teen
- Why we should offer support rather than solve problems
- And more!
We hope you enjoy this conversation!
Links:
- [BOOK] Parenting Ahead: Preparing Now for the Teen Years
- Connect with Kristen on her website, Instagram, or Facebook
Our Takeaways:
1) Get curious before getting corrective. Our knee-jerk reaction as parents can be to address our child’s behavior; however, their actions are usually an outward indicator of something that is happening below the surface with their emotions. They may be feeling the pressure to measure up to expectations or the overwhelming weight of the future. Our children and teens feel the negative effects of these stressors and don’t always have the skills to be able to cope with them yet.
2) Model healthy coping techniques. Children learn more by our example than by our words. Even when they are young, we can invite our children in age-appropriate ways to see how we deal with stress. Here are just a few techniques you could start to putting into practice if you don’t already: movement, spending time outside, doing something creative, listening to music, journaling, connecting with trusted people, and prayer.
3) Resilience comes from struggle. From the time our children started taking their first steps, our role as parents was to protect these precious little ones from danger. But now that our children are teens, we need to resist the urge to remove everything that causes them discomfort. While it may be difficult at first, resilience grows as you go through trials. That doesn’t mean that we abandon our children altogether; we can still be there to offer emotional support, comfort, and guidance. However, we do need to resist rescuing them or removing the problem for them.
Meet Our Guest
Kristen Hatton is a counselor, author, mother of three young adult children, and host of the Redemptive Parenting podcast, where she equips parents with wisdom and hope. In her most recent book, Parenting Ahead, Kristen helps parents lay the groundwork for having honest conversations, setting reasonable limits, and exploring issues of the heart. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Pete, where they enjoy the outdoors, party planning, and gathering with friends.
