A teenager’s life makes a dramatic shift between their 12th and 13th birthdays. Socially, they are no longer considered children and symbolically, it is their first step into the daunting adult world. But next to the physical changes that ravage through their developing bodies, there is an even more important change — psychological.

At this age, the separation-identity crisis begins. One minute your child wants to talk and confide in you, the next minute they are literally shoving you out of the bedroom and demanding their privacy, leaving parents in a quandary to find the balance between giving space and imposing influence. Unfortunately, most parents fade to the outer fringes of the child’s life — a detrimental mistake.

During a teenager’s development, it appears as if the peer group holds more influence than the parents, Read More