Current or Former Parents of Teenagers — What is/was your most effective coping mechanisms?

Asked by cookieman (41649) February 19th, 2018 from iPhone

Teenagers can be a challenge. Between hormones, self doubt, looming adulthood, responsibilities, sexuality, and more, they can be an unexpected tsunami of emotions one minute, a mature young person the next, and a needy little kid a moment later. It can be whiplash inducing for parents and really fucking try your patience.

My daughter is, at her core, an amazingly intelligent, self-sufficient, mature, young lady. On a dime though, she can be an emotional time bomb, then clingy toddler, then back again. It can be tough to navigate and keep my own emotions in check.

I was listening to an interview with Ron Howard who said his most prolific and successful period of filmmaking was when his kids were teens. He said it got so bad at home, he just left, for months on end, to make movies.

My wife’s therapist tells her that when my daughter is unreasonable, just walk away. Go for a drive. Leave for the afternoon.

Is this a good tactic? What do/did you do to survive?

When I keep my cool, I try to give her a hug (which often backfired on me) or just clean the crap out of the house (as a distraction). That is, if I’m not yelling at her (which is mostly useless).