Why Is Getting Help Now So Important?

Sometimes, when the children are young it is difficult to believe and difficult to imagine that any hard times the family is going through now could possibly lead to even harder times when the children become adolescents. 
 
Sometimes, parents think that things will get better when the children become more mature or when the parents are under less stress.  Sometime this is true, and sometimes it is not. 
 
In a recent Seattle Times story, a teenage boy going through hard times was cited in an article.  This youth recounted his family life in this way, “My parents are excellent people, but they’re terrible parents.  My childhood was tough and it really sucked.” 
 
No one can predict the future, however parents must do all that they can to increase the odds in their children’s favor by becoming more understanding and accepting of the temperament differences in the family, by improving communication skills, by becoming better disciplinarians and by creating a less stressful family life.  
 
The better your family functions when your child is young the better the child will fare when the child becomes a teenager.  All the work parents do when the children are young will pay off 10-15 years later.  Please see the work published by Search Institute regarding building the developmental assets of our youth.
 
Parents have to get good at managing their young children while the stakes are not so high.  When children become teenagers parents still have to manage them lovingly and effectively, but when mistakes are made the stakes can be high.  If parents have been practicing and perfecting effective parenting techniques all along the way, there will be less of a chance that life will get out of hand for the teenagers. 
 
There are so many resources available now for parents.  Professionals who work with families understand and are hard at work encouraging parents to take action for the family early on rather than later on. 
 
Time is of the essence when raising children. 
 
When parents create loving, supporting, encouraging and positively structured homes for their children, there is a greater chance that the parents and the children will have loving, supportive and mutually respectful relationships with each other when the children become adults.  
 
What happens now does make a difference later.