8 Tips to Become a Responsible Teenager + My Experience

A teenager’s life is sometimes confusing but has a lot of opportunities to learn. When you make mindful choices, you can transform every experience into an opportunity for learning. Furthermore, such experiences help you become a more mature and responsible teenager. 

As human beings, we are born with responsibilities that we cannot escape. So it’s better we grow into responsible teens and accept them whole-heartedly rather than complaining. Especially when you want to become the best teenager in front of all. Here I’ve given a few tips on how to have a healthy relationship with your parents and surroundings.

How to Be a Responsible Teenager

1. Responsible Teenagers Take Authority for Daily Chores

Mother always expects that we help her with the daily chores. She might shout every morning on you to make the bed, water the plants, or for household chores. What you can do is, if she tells you to do 10 tasks a day which you can hardly manage, take authority of at least 7 to 8 tasks out them and finish the same regularly and religiously.

2. Become a Responsible Support When Needed

Sometimes parents get exhausted after a long tough day. So instead of demanding to cook fancy dinner for you, if you cannot cook, ask them to cook something quick and easy. This was a minimal example of support, You can be a backbone by helping them when they are unhealthy, even becoming support for your friend can help you out on being a responsible teenager.

3. Always Listen to Everyone but Do the Best for You

If an elder gives you a piece of advice, always listen to them because it is not them who’s speaking, it is their experience speaking. Also don’t listen and follow them blindly, rather evaluate and take the best out of all. This ability will help you to take from small to crucial decisions all your life.

4. Don’t Misuse Your Freedom being a Responsible Teenager

Freedom is something that can get the best or the worst out of you. This is something told or felt by most of you out there. But yes it is really true. If you start misusing your freedom, you are surely going to enjoy for the short-term but it will have a damaging effect over the long-term. Enjoy your freedom but try not to misuse it.

5. To Become A Responsible Teen – Avoid Being Part of Wrong Deeds

Responsible deeds do not stop at your parents or the surrounding but you should be responsible to yourself also. You should know what is good for you and what is not. Mocking or ragging someone can give you nothing but a blink of you being superior to others, which is completely opposite to the truth.

6. Understand the Generation Gap

We as youngsters always fail to understand that there is a generation gap and it is going to exist, you won’t be able to do anything against it. We many a time blame our parents for not understanding us, but the reality is they try their best to understand us but they cannot understand where are we heading. So it becomes our responsibility to understand them and make them understand before we start losing each other.

7. Start working: Take an internship or part-time job. 

When you want to impact your life, you should start working as early as possible. The objective here is not to earn more money but to gain as much experience as possible. This gives you a better understanding of how things work and what they are all about. Plus, this way you will learn how to manage your time between study and work from an early age.  Again, the goal is not to make money but rather to gain experience and find out what you’re good at.

8. Take the words from your parents and elders seriously. 

Like most teenagers who think they are now responsible and mature, you will find it difficult. You don’t want to be the one. Before saying anything or doing anything, take a moment to think about why your parents are saying so. They’re your parents, and they always want the best for you. You need to check out why your parents try to keep you away from certain friends. Certainly, there are reasons behind it. You still have a lot to learn, and your parents and family members are always there to help you make the right decision. Just don’t spoil your teens, like most others.

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My Experience on Becoming a Responsible Teenager

I, being part of a not so modern Jain Gujarati family, responsibilities are inherited. I waved off my teenage life nearly a month ago. Before that something happened which changed my attitude towards responsibilities and teenage life.

Before that, let me give you a brief background of the situation. My father was in another city for his project, my elder brother in the USA. My mother was on 14 months fast (Yes, I know seems too long but Jain Fasts tend to be long), while it was just me and mom alone at home for 4 months.

This was the time when my learning started. As there was no one else at home, mom used to call me out for some or the other work every 15 minutes. I used to get annoyed for making me skip my studies But as days passed I started to understand her, she needed help, she needed support being alone. She stays hungry though out the day but makes sure I get something delicious to eat.

Our bond grew, I came to know more about the generation gap we faced, why we feel and see things differently, then I started trying to mold the thoughts of mine as well as my mother into what the other generation thinks. WHY? The strong reason behind that was they come to know that they are not living in an unknown world and the thoughts can be understood by other – vice versa.

Also read: Is Today’s Teenager Responsible Enough?

Parents avoid talking about their personal issues with the children, so we as children need to enter their minds, heart, and words to understand them. They feel that they are losing us, so we need to make the strings tight. You might think why us, why do they?

The answer is they were there with us always; it was us who was trying to get away from the questions and responsibilities are given to us.