Survey+about+parenthood


 * How do you think it might feel to be the parent of an adolescent?**

Nowdays,the upbringing of a child is a joyful, but at the same time a tough experience. Especially when he reaches adolescence, the challenges are many and the only thing a parent must have is a lot of patience. At this age,the adolescent starts his own revolution and the parent is often obliged to comply with the decisions that he takes in order not to distort his mental balance. Even though the parent is full of stress and anxiety about the future of his child, he must hide his feelings and show will and decisiveness. In conclusion, I would say that this period in a family's life is difficult for the whole family and everybody is eager to go through it smoothly.
 * Babis:**

It seems like an easy question to be answered, but it's not! Although I have been an adolescent and I have felt all those stressful and confused feelings, it's difficult to predict my emotions and reactions as a parent ! The only thing that I am sure is that I would try to use all my knowledge and experience to encourage my offspring to overcome this difficult period of their life !
 * Nikos:**

Each period of our life has different demands and during the period of adolescence, teenagers demand to find their sexual identity! All the adolescents try to be accepted and try to find one role in the society. Each adolescent dreams of changing the world and making his/ her personal revolution. At that time, I think as a parent I would try to understand their feelings and try to communicate and to share their anxiety, anger, fear ,e.t.c. At the same time, I think I would have to be discreet which would help my child to build up his/ her own self - confidence and achieve his/ her goals more easily!

As all parents have their children at a very young age, they are in a hurry to see them become older. But when they finally become adolescents, they wish they were stil young children or, even better, babies! The only reason I see is that parents feel their stable relationship with their children to be disrupted. What is more, they see that their adolescent child now doesn't want to be influenced or controlled by others in matters of opinion, be criticised about everything and wants to be autonomous. As a result, parents feel like they "lose" their children, and, as a consequence, they feel stressed about their future. I firmly believe that parents should not panic so much and be strict with them by enforcing prohibitions. Moreover, they must see all things through the eyes of a teenager, behave to him/her like he' she is a mature person and discuss together as much as possible.
 * Monika:**

Being a parent is a very demanding job! A parent has to play a lot of roles in order to bring up their child. They have to be not only parents, but teachers and friends at the same time. The upbringing of an adolescent means great responsibilities. The parent is the one who has to carry all that weight. Adolescents have to learn how to be adults and they have to find their role in the adult society. To make matters worse, they need to be protected from dangers, such as drugs and violence. All these are more than enough to make parents feel angst. However, knowledge is the solution. The only thing a parent has to do is to use their own experience to benefit their children. Parents themselves were adolescents in the past and they faced the same problems. As a result, they can guide their children.
 * Manos:**

The adolescence is one of the toughest periods of our life. Each person, during that period, feels like getting away from it all and prefers to turn in to him/herself. I believe that, sometimes, the attitude of an adolescent can be unbearable and affects parents who don't know for sure how to behave to their own children. As a result, a generation gap is created and it seems difficult for parents to make sense of their childen's behaviour. As far as I' m concerned, I think that, if I was the parent of an adolescent, I would certainly feel anxious and stressed, but I would manage to get on with my child for his/her own sake. In my opinion, parents need to understand the meaning of patience and work out all the differences between them and their children so that they ensure that they helped, as much as possible, in their upbringing.
 * Despoina:**