Indeed, it's not easy to be a teenager. This is exactly what i learnt in my candid conversation with Rajat Soni, a Teen Life Coach. Rajat and i have been connected via LinkedIn for many years, however, it was his book "Un-Judge Your Teenager" that made me reach out to him and that's how this Podcast happened.
A fan of bollywood music, Rajat has over two decades of experience and was in a full-time corporate job before he ventured into executive coaching. Rajat armed himself with certifications like ICF, NLP and EFT and started his journey as a life coach. Rajat journey as a Teen Life Coach started when one of his CXO client shared his teenager challenge and asked Rajat to help. Unskilled about handling teen issues and having no clue about the problem his CXO son faced, Rajat took a leap of faith into the known to become Teen Life Coach/motivational speaker and since then there has been no looking back. Today, Rajat has impacted 500 families and over 20000 teens through his Signature Tool Box Program. Learn more about his enterprising journey in this Podcast here.
Podcast Duration: 30 Mins | Language: English
Key Messages From The Podcast:
1) Acceptance: Learn to accept yourself and your teenagers. Don't always wear the judgement lens in day to day conversations.
2) Empathy: Teenagers are going through a whole lot of their own challenges and struggles. It could be academics, relationships or simply their inability to cope up with all that's happening around. Step into their position before prescribing solutions.
3) Don't Extrapolate Your Childhood Into your Teenager's Childhood- Often we as parents look at our teenagers and make comparisons of how we used to do in a similar situation. There is no point in doing so since the context and life situations are no longer the same.
4) Respect Close Door Policy - give your children the space they deserve and don't just step into their lives unnecessarily. No one wants intrusion and teenagers are no different. Set the rules but don't police around if things are not always going the way you wanted them to be.
If you are a parent who think your teenager doesn't listen to you or if you are a teenager who think your parents don't understand you at all, do listen to Rajat's perspective on this podcast. And yes, if you are keen to take it further, his book (link at the top) will be a good starting point!