Life Coaching For Teenagers
Some people may think that life coaching is merely for adults or for business professionals - people with big goals and plans and a great deal going on in their life, but this is a misconception and one that may prevent a lot of people from getting good clients or receiving good coaching. Personal life coaching is a great tool for teenagers and young adults to take advantage of and it can make a really big difference in a persons life - especially a young person.
Teenagers have lives that are just as confusing and complex as the rest of us, and they shouldn’t be dismissed as not having anything they might need coaching with just because they’re young. It’s easy for most of us to get in the mindset of thinking that teenagers have it so easy and maybe from our perspective their life is a little more charmed, but for the most part they struggle with all the same things we do, but have to deal with things with much higher levels of hormones.
Teenage Issues
It certainly isn’t the easiest thing in the world to be a teenager, and when you really stop and think about it there are a lot of things teenagers can use life coaching for. Many of them struggle with friends and family relationships, entering the dating world, confusing questions about sex, drugs, and alcohol, worries over school and their future careers, struggles with body image and fitting in - plus a whole lot more.
There are endless things for a teenager to have anxiety over and it can be really helpful for them to have someone to work things over with in a way that teaches them lots of valuable methods for dealing with certain things in their life as well as accomplishing goals, figuring out what they want to do in their life, and so forth.
Why Life Coaching Helps
Life coaching can be a huge asset to something that young because it can help them learn important lessons, make decisions and distinctions that their peers have yet to make, and take paths that will set them on track for a much brighter future with a bit of head start. There are so many benefits to life coaching for teenagers that it really isn’t something that should be questioned as useful for that age group.
Coaching Teenagers
There are some important things to remember though when coaching teenagers. Teenagers are essentially a different species at that time in their life. They think, act, and communicate differently then young children or older adults do so it’s important to adjust your coaching and try to be on their level. This doesn’t mean that you should talk down to them - merely that you should try to see the world from their perspective.
Working With Parents
It’s also important to remember that not only are you coaching this teenager - you’d also be working with the parents of that teen as well in conjunction which is especially important because it means you’re getting three sides to every story and that you have to coordinate on some level with what the parents want.
That doesn’t mean that the parents are using you to instill their own beliefs or wishes in the teenager - merely that you have an obligation, as a professional coach, to respect the belief systems of those parents as well as give your coaching. That means if the parents have strict rules about dating or social activities it isn’t wise for you to advice the teenager to act against those rules in any way that will upset the parents.
How to Give Advice
You may advise teenagers on negotiating with their parents for things that they want - like being able to stay out later or something like that but don’t blatantly ignore the wants of the parents or other caretakers of the teenager. That being said - you also shouldn’t disregard what the teenager is saying just because it contradicts with something a parent may feel is right or wants for that child.
If a teenager wants to go into more of an unorthodox profession, say writing - for example, but the parents are insisting the child go into something like medicine or law, don’t immediately reprimand the teenager for being disobedient or something to that effect. Encourage teenagers to think for themselves and make their own decisions. Doing so can have a profound effect on their lives and may open them up to new possibilities they never even considered before.
Adapting to Teenagers
It’s also important that you do a little adapting to your coaching techniques before working with a teenager because the circumstances are very different and the way you’ll need to communicate with them is very different. With adults they are more likely to want measurable results and goals defined so that they can get a good value on their money and coaching investment.
Teenagers typically aren’t going to be the same way - for a lot of reasons. The first is that they usually aren’t the ones paying for the coaching so they’ll be a lot less invested in the impact it has on their lives - that can make the coaching process a lot more drawn out and possibly more difficult.
What To Do
In these circumstances, it can be helpful for you to suggest things to work on with your teenage clients as well as working with their parents. Just make sure the parents aren’t forcing goals and wants on the teenager - if you see that to be the case you’ll need to have a chat with the teenager and their parents and see if the coaching is going to work.
Another reason teenagers are different is simply because they have different things they want at that stage in their life. When most adults want money, relationships, success, fame, and so forth - teenagers are a lot more likely to just want friends, to do well in school, to feel accepted, and to be listened to and loved. That really shakes up the manner of coaching so it’s important to adapt.
Conclusion
Remember that coaching is helpful for teenagers and can make a big difference so it might be worthwhile to consider taking on some teenaged clients to see if you can’t have a profound impact on their lives.