This is the second part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen. You can learn more about parenting in my books God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child or God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

A Parenting Style Case Study 

Imagine you’re putting clothes into your teen’s dresser. When you open the drawer, you see a pack of cigarettes. Here’s how parents of the four parenting styles might react:

This is the seventh part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

DISCIPLINE

We now come to the fourth letter—D for “Discipline.” Lifting up our teens with affirmation, blameless love, and connectedness is critical for their health. But like a table, a fourth leg is needed to keep things on an equilibrium—the leg of parental guidance and enforced boundaries.

This is the sixth part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

CONNECTING WITH THE WORKADAY WORLD

If your teen is not overscheduled and you feel good about the family connectedness, then part-time work may be another way your teen can develop into a highly healthy adult. After all, he or she does need to learn how to work, and the last I checked, the best way to learn how to work is to work!

This is the fifth part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

CONNECTING WITH FRIENDS … AND MORE FRIENDS

Besides connectedness with parents, highly healthy teens need connectedness with highly healthy friends, activities, and faith communities. As teens gain independence and go out on their own, friendships become more important than ever.

This is the fourth part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

CONNECTEDNESS

The “C” of the “ABCD’s” of raising highly healthy children and nurturing highly healthy teens is “Connectedness.” It includes connecting with your kids, connecting your kids with good friends, and connecting your kids with their Creator.

This is the third part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

BLAMELESS LOVE

The “B” of the “ABCD’s” of raising highly healthy children and nurturing highly healthy teens is “Blameless” or “Unconditional Love.”

Do you love your child blamelessly, unconditionally?

Or is your love conditional, as in “I love you because of … ” or “I love you if … ”?

This is the second part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

AFFIRMATION

The “A” of the “ABCDs” of raising highly healthy children and nurturing highly healthy teens is “Affirmation.”

In my book, God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen, I wrote about the fact that highly healthy teens need four things from their parents to maintain their emotional health during their preteen and adolescent years.

I call them the ABCD’s of parenting:

• A = Affirmation

• B = Blameless love

• C = Connectedness

• D = Discipline