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Teens Need Parenting Knowledge
By Kevin Johnson

There are no shortages of socioeconomic challenges for teenagers. The teens' awareness of the world outside of the household, their desires for obtaining material possessions, and their hopes to attain greater freedom sometimes conflict with social structures and personal economic limitations.

During the process of maturing, the teen should learn to temper his/her desires to more closely match what is "reasonable" and to broaden his/her knowledge base to deal with an increasingly more complicated life and world.

By the time the teen understands the difference between being a "child" to being a "young adult", the teen has some awareness of the ability to reproduce. The physical reproductive maturity; however, outpaces the socioeconomic maturity needed for survival. A teen may know and may be capable of the fulfilling reproductive process without the knowledge to run and sustain a household.

It is generally accepted that the household of a child's biological parents united in marriage be the preferred setting for childrearing. But, the average age at which couples marry in the U.S. is 25-26 years old. This means that on the average a teen/young adult spends more than a decade being capable of reproduction but unprepared for marriage.

The teen/young adult usually spends the first half of the referenced decade in their own parents' or guardians' household. They spend the last part of the decade in college or in the military or elsewhere on their own for the first time. For many young a there is a trial period of living on your own before getting married.

Faced with the gap between possible parenthood and preparedness for parenthood, the teen has to learn key skills quickly. In addition to learning to clean house, cook, wash clothes, maintain the vehicle, change diapers, etc. they must learn personal finance - how to buy a house or car, how to get a job, how to go to school while having a job and a kid at the same time, how to save and invest, how to live on a budget, etc.

They also must learn to be a strong assertive individual while also being prepared to work through problems with peers. This skill will help them function in their own household.

The religious life of the teen, of course, needs to be preserved. They must understand that human life is to serve God. It is not just to indulge the human senses. They must trust in God who will never lead them astray. But, they must recognize that some of their "friends" may not be worthy of blind trust.

The teen must attain a sense of mission to better himself/herself individually and possibly to foster/lead a healthy family unit of their own at some point.

Of course, not all 100% of teens will become parents. But, it would be wise to prepare them mentally, spiritually and socio-economically for the challenge of parenthood should it be in their present lives or future.