Parenting Adolescents

Today's lecture made me think about the way that I was treated as an adolescent and about the way that I plan to treat my future children when they get to enjoy their adolescence. We talked a lot about flexibility and I think that plays a large role in a child-parent relationship. Depending on the circumstances, age, and situation, parents have to have some flexibility with children...but how much is too much? Hopefully as I am raising my child throughout his/her adolescence I can be an authority figure to him or her but also be understanding and someone that her or she can talk to. I do not want my kids learning life lessons from the media, I would much rather prefer them coming to me and being open with their lives, even though some things in adolescence can be awkward to talk about. Often, I wish I could have been more open with my parents about certain issues, but I guess I'll just take what I have learned from my parents and their parenting styles and use it towards my own children.