No matter how big they get… It turns out to be difficult to keep an eye on their belongings! For many teenagers it is an almost impossible task to keep all their 'junk' (pardon me!) together. And that general mess isn't that bad, but that's how it goes with public transport cards, keys and school books. They lose their stuff all the time.
It is also difficult to pay attention when you are working with both your friend and your smartphone. Then take another look at the right drinking cup to take home! Printing a water bottle, for example, could be a solution 😉 . Their own smartphone, that still works… But the average adolescent always loses everything. Recognizable? Then we have some tips for you, so that at least you don't have to lose your mind. Because your adolescent is already doing that!
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If their head wasn't stuck, you probably could have picked it up somewhere for them too. Speaking of which, how much do you help your teenager to get his or her things back if they are lost? It is often tempting to want to solve this yourself. If they have lost something, or worse, if, for example, their phone is stolen. We all know that chasing a grumpy teenager is quite a grueling task. Then go after those lost things yourself?
The first tip:try to let that go a bit! Those adolescent dragons have an extra “mommy-does-for-me-sensor”. It has been in development for years now. And as soon as you spoil them too much, it goes off all too often! So don't try to follow them everywhere… Keep it up Mom!
And we know from experience… that is not easy. For example, Joyce drove after her son with 2 dictionaries. He had an English test for which these were indispensable. Maybe she should just start asking for money for that sort of thing.
A lost sock after gym class is not the problem. But a lot of teenagers seem to be so absent-minded that they lose all of them on an annual basis.
Let your teenagers see to it that they get their belongings back if they have lost them. Of course you can always help them with that, but let them do their part themselves. They might learn the most from that. So let them look for it themselves, or buy a new public transport card. Still not an ultimate remedy, because absent-mindedness is just as much a part of puberty as tantrums.
During the pubertal phase, a lot of hormones play on, which rush through those bodies. As a result, adolescents are often less able to focus on several things at the same time. Besides, quite honestly, there could be an ounce of indifference to it 😉 . And as soon as mom or dad start worrying about those things, they can also remain nice and indifferent. Don't worry:after puberty, they often become a lot less scattered. Although some will continue to suffer from it for the rest of their lives. Which also needs to be said:they really have a lot on their (young) mind these days.
Yet it remains a major annoyance for many parents. The kind of teenager who always loses everything. And so I have another tip for you:have important items printed or labeled so that if they get lost, they can at least come back.
Only madmen and fools write their names on doors and glasses, my mother used to say. Well, having a teenager at home makes it very handy!
Especially with the USB stick, I think it is an advantage that it is clearly visible who the owner is. We used to carry full backpacks with us, but nowadays there is at least 10 times as much information on that small stick. And so very annoying when they lose it. Did you know that you can have a USB stick printed with, for example, a name and telephone number? And since the average teenager does lose more, you can undoubtedly think of other things to personalize.
Do you have any tips for other parents of a teenager who always loses things? Like agreements made? And, do they stick to that too?
