How do you motivate a teenager? I think this might be one of those questions that don't really have an answer. Here I am trying to help T become an adult. He will be 18 in March and will be graduating high school next year. By this time in his life he should have already had a part time job, be driving, have a checking account and be waking up on his own in the morning. However, he has done none of these things. He still needs me to go in every morning to make sure he gets up for school. He has never had a job or really done any hard work. He has applied for a few things while being here in Oklahoma so that may change soon. He did get his permit before Christmas but he still doesn't want to drive. This is probably one of the most frustrating things. I understand that he is scared but he has to get out there. I don't know how to convince him of that.
I think the most frustrating thing though isn't that he doesn't do these things but that he has no real motivation to change, to want to learn to do these things. I have tried to explain to him that he is going to be an adult before he knows it. That he will have to make some hard decisions in the next couple year and that he needs to try to start making some now while he has us as his safety net. He response to all these things is that 'he wants to be a kid for as long as possible'. I understand that he can still be a kid but he has to start moving forward with some of these things or before he knows it he is going to be the weird high school graduate that doesn't drive and doesn't know what to do with his life.
So for all you parents out there. How do you motivate a teenager? How do I get him to move forward with his life? I want to see him be successful but I want him to do it for himself....
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