30 Adults Share Advice That Every Teenager Should Know

NotViperX told Bored Panda about what drew them to create the thread in the first place: "I was thinking about a question that would be helpful and entertaining at once. When I came up with this one, I just posted, never expecting it to get so much attention! I posted it because I was interested in people's opinions and advice from all over the world," they said.

The redditor also had some advice for teenagers regarding health. According to them, it's incredibly important to keep an eye on what teenagers eat.

"The teenage body needs lots of minerals and vitamins to stay healthy and develop the body! And afterwards, always brush your teeth! You will thank yourself later," NotViperX said, adding that they're very grateful for all of the helpful comments, upvotes and awards their thread got.

No matter how great your advice is, teenagers might not want to follow it. A lot of things can get in their way, from angst and hormones to wanting to rebel or feeling ‘weak’ if they listen to an adult. Fortunately, there are some ways around these obstacles that can help teenagers maintain their spirit of independence while helping them absorb useful info.

Teenagers are prone to ignoring their parents’ advice, writes Andy Earle, founder of the ‘Talking to Teens’ blog and podcast. According to Earle, teenagers tend to rebel against their parents because they want to be in charge of their own decisions, so parents ought to consider removing themselves from the equation.

Getting a mentor-figure or a friend to talk to your teenage kids about important life advice might just be the secret workaround that won’t make them feel like they’re being ‘told’ to do something. The more the teens trust the person, the more they’ll be willing to listen and think about what they have to say.

Another way to subtly dodge your teens’ willingness to run away from sound advice is to embrace their independence: help them discover the solution to their problems all by themselves.

Give them a few tips on where to find the info they might need. Then sit back and watch as they research everything for themselves. This way, they’ll feel self-reliant and won’t be prone to throwing advice in the bin just because it was said by their parents. While this hands-off approach might not make some parents happy, at least consider giving this a try if everything else keeps backfiring.

Lastly, if your teenagers keep making the same mistakes over and over again (and keep pestering you about the same problems over and over again, too), it’s time to have an honest chat.

Tell them upfront that they’re ignoring the advice you’ve already given them and it’s time to change something, otherwise, they’ll keep making the same painful mistakes. This way, they might be more willing to actually solve their problems instead of just talking about them and relying on others to do the thinking while they ignore potential solutions.