10 LESSONS FROM YOUR TWEEN

You can learn a lot from your nine-year-old.

He may be the young and inexperienced child, and you may be the wise parent, but here are 10 things you can learn from your soon-to-be teenager: 1. HOW TO BE HAPPY Unlike most adults, the typical child has a very natural and uncomplicated approach to happiness. He rarely needs grand gestures, expensive gifts or elaborate arrangements to make him feel good. His route to happiness is uncomplicated and genuine. This can help remind you how to take pleasure from the simple things in life.. 2. HOW TO MANAGE TECHNOLOGY Many adults are technophobes – new IT gadgets tend to engender apprehension rather than excitement. Your child, on the other hand, has the opposite reaction, and he is much more tech-savvy than you. That’s why he can help you set up the Xbox Kinect or find your way around your iPad.

3. HOW TO SIMPLIFY DIFFICULTIES
Your child generally takes a simple approach when it comes to solving a problem: He looks for the easiest solution. Compare that with your own approach, which probably involves looking at the problem from a thousand different angles, eventually rendering you unsure of which route to take. In contrast, he just selects the most obvious path.

4. HOW TO LAUGH
It doesn’t take a lot to make your primary schooler guffaw – slapstick humour can have him bellowing with laughter in seconds. He doesn’t need to listen to the latest TV comedian in order to chuckle. The next time you see him laughing loudly, try to join in with his delight. You’ll find that the more you do this, the more you’ll laugh, too.

5. HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS
He forms new social relationships easily and trusts other children, unless they are unpleasant. He looks for a common interest or a game that they both want to play. Adults often struggle to make new friends because they allow previous negative experiences to influence them too much.

(To be continued...)

Read the April 2011 issue of Young Parents for the full story, and more expert advice and local tips to make you a better mum or dad.