Today's Tip for Families

[En español]

01-26-2024

Help Your Teen Recover From a Poor Choice

Teens make choices every day. Sometimes, they make bad ones. They choose to watch endless videos after school, then have to stay up late to finish their assignments. Or, they choose to tell a lie, but they have to live with the consequences later.

Let's say your teen has made a poor choice. Your student knows that the rule is no recreational screen use until schoolwork is finished. But there was a show your teen really wanted to watch. So your teen said “I don’t have any math due tomorrow.”

Teach your student that mistakes are a part of life, but how you deal with them and what you learn from them is what's important. To encourage accountability, have your teen follow these steps for addressing poor choices:

• Admit it. Being honest about a bad choice is the first step in fixing what's wrong. ("Mom, I really did have a math assignment.")
• Accept the consequences. ("I know I'm going to have to get my schoolwork done. And I accept that I probably will lose wifi access for the rest of the week.")
• Find ways to make up for poor choices. How can your teen turn this bad choice into something positive? ("Since I won't be spending time online this week, I will focus on mastering these math skills.")
• Learn from choices that go wrong. ("Next time I will do my assignments first!")

Brought to you by:

Nye County Schools
Pahrump, NV

[School Success Ideas for Families]

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