She is curled up next to me reading a ‘Wrinkle in Time’, when she suddenly turns around and says ‘Mama, you know the difference between you and my friends’ mothers?” “What?,” I ask, “that I am a little crazzzyy!” as I try to tickle her. “No, seriously, I can talk to you and you don’t freak out and you don’t try to control me.  You have rules but you don’t make every choice in my life.”

My eldest is a tween (a pre-teen): an awkward stage where she is not a child but not quite a woman yet. Hormones are kicking in, tastes are altering, and everything from her body to her attitude is changing. She feels more intensely and is bombarded with sexuality, smoking and other temptations all around. At this stage I have to work harder on my relationship with her so she can resist the pressure when she is a teenager.

Mr. Raza (*name changed) sat in my office; he was here to enroll his 13 yr old son into a Quran class. As he was filling the registration form, he suddenly held his head and said in a shaky voice ‘I have failed as a father!’ His elder son was 18, involved with drugs, running with the wrong crowd. He doesn’t know where his 22-year-old daughter is, as she doesn’t talk to him anymore. “Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently?” I get asked these questions so many times.

Most parents want a mutually respectful and loving relationship with their children but often do not know how to achieve it. I really think parenting teens means giving in to their harmless pleasures, saying yes to to the little things, so when you do say no to things that are absolutely unacceptable, they trust that you are not trying to control them but are ‘raising’ them.

Parents need to know that kids are hitting puberty earlier but we do not let them become adults until much later in life. We do not give them responsibility or teach them how to make choices.  As parents, we have to remember that we were their age once. We made the similar mistakes. Sometimes they are testing their limits and our boundaries and often they are just trying to get our attention.

It is hard work to parent teenagers, so start early. I say what I say after working as a youth group leader for years. Psychologists tell us that the reward centers of the adolescent brain are much more active than those of either children or adults. Think about the incomparable intensity of the first crush, the never-to-be-recaptured euphoria of the school cricket club championship, compare this to our relatively sedated adult emotions. Here are tips to help foster a strong bond with your tween.

Make Islam a daily, relevant part of your life: Kids can spot a hypocrite from a mile away. When Islam is relegated to something we do when a family member dies or a book wrapped up in silk, perched high up on our bookshelf and then we use Islam to shame them into behaving, kids are confused. Even worse, if all they know about their faith is a quick prayer in a language that they don’t understand, taught to them by a ‘qari-sahab’ that they cannot relate to, how can we raise spiritual children who we have deep bonds with? (I could write a whole article on this maybe next time)

 Don’t treat children like possessions: One thing parents often do is treat children like they are their possessions and children feel it. We need to take care of our babies not because they are ours because they really don’t belong to us they belong to their Creator but because they are a Gift from the One we LOVE. When we change the way we look at them then we find changes in the way we parent them, with less pressure.,. as caretakers not owners.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you- Khalil Gibran

Know who are their friends: It is absolutely imperative that you know who their friends are and who their friend’s parents are.  It is not enough that they live down the street or work in that great company or attend the same club as you do. At this age children’s peers start replacing parents. Kids start resisting contact with parents.  When peers replace parents then friends start dictating how they should act instead of kids taking their queues from you. Friendships are important, they just should be not as important as the primary relationship, which is with the mother and the father.

Spend time one on one.  It is hard to find time to spend individually with each of our children, but this is so important especially when you see changes in your tween’s behavior. Focus on the relationship, not the conduct. Dr. Gordon Neufield, one of Canada’s leading clinical psychologist points out that if our spouse was being rude to us, or not talking to us or rolling their eyes at us, we would not think that they have a conduct problem, we would think we have a relationship problem, we need to do the same thing with our children.  Take them for a drive, run errands with them or just sit on their bed and chat.

Spending time with family members is an act of worship in Islam so even if it is a few minutes a day, a calm conversation, not a lecture,can benefit both the parent and the child.

Communication, communication, communication.

If all you are getting from your son or daughter is blank stares, monosyballic answers or aggressive language, reflect on your part in the relationship. When they are younger, we hug them, shower kisses on them but as they grow older, many parents tend to start getting reserved with their teens. Fathers, esp. tend to back off after girls become a certain age. They start feeling ‘uncomfortable’ around their girls. Girls need fathers who constantly make them feel like they are a part of each other’s lives. If young girls, who are taking their first steps towards womanhood get positive male attention at home then they will not go seeking this attention elsewhere.

Tweens and teens should feel like they can confide in their parents and talk to them about various topics (ie.) if they find someone attractive to following their dream careers without being blasted for being ‘out of control’ . 

Be involved in your children’s life, everyday. Don’t wait til the situation is beyond repair to control it. Be involved in their lives everyday, not to control your children but to really take an interest in their lives. If you notice that they are not acting like themselves, ask them “What’s up, I noticed that you were not your normal self?”

Kids this age often make statements like “I don’t need your rules, I am going to run away.” If you face this, take them to slums, go feed the poor where they will see with their own eyes how people who run away from home live.

Get other adults involved in your kids lives.

This really helps you parent, when kids know that there is someone aside from the parents who is keeping tabs on them ie teachers, aunts, uncles, an older cousin and neighbors. They need other upright adults involved in their lives that they can also trust. Ask these adults to check in on them, talk to them reenforcing the principles that you are raising them with.

Be Tech Savvy. In the social media, super-connected world of today, parents really do them selves a disservice when they do not educate themslves about gadgets and technology. Don’t give your child a smartphone if you do not know how to use it yourself.

Maintain a balance. Even if you have ‘good kids’ dont just assume that your kid is ‘good’. My mother in law used to surprise visit my husband even while he was in college- she would just show up at his hostel without letting him know to check up on him.

Don’t think that your child can never do wrong, it is those parents that lose their kids. Many parents whose children are changing in front of their eyes refuse to take sincere advice and gently curb the children while they in their early teens.  These parents will get upset with the person who is giving the advice and ignore the situation.

But do not go to the other extreme of becoming the “haram police” for them either; constantly spying on them and thinking that they are going to do something forbidden. At that point, because your expectations of them is so low, they start thinking “I must be bad that is why they (my parents) think I am bad so let me act out on it”.