LIFE LESSONS FOR TEENS

It's important to follow rules:

It's important that you know how proud I am of you.

It's important that you know how special you are to us.

It's important we explain how our marital separation may affect you.

It's important you understand how we feel about adopting you.

It's important you understand it's okay to grieve.

It's important you know the feelings that occur when you end a relationship.

It's important you know that it's okay to be gay.

It's important you talk to us now that you are pregnant.

It's important to pick good friends.

It's important you know how sorry I am that I hurt your feelings.

It's important to not use drugs and alcohol:

It's important to be proud of getting your first job.

It's important that you don't have to be perfect.

It's important you know how proud I am of the woman that you've become.

It's important to know that we will help you with the bullying at school.

It's important to let us help you when you have been bullying kids.

It's important to have confidence in yourself.

It's important not to talk back to us or be disrespectful.

It's important that we improve our family relationships.

It's important to use what you learn from sports as you go through life.

It's important to know how proud we are of your involvement with music.

It's important to become more financially independent:

It's important to know how proud we are of your involvement with art.

It's important to know how proud we are of your interest in reading.

It's important to know how proud we are of your involvement with dance.

It's important to know how proud we are of your accomplishments.

It's important you know how proud we are that you graduated.

It's important to know why driving for the first time is such an important step in your life.

It's important to understand the dangers of driving a car and being a responsible driver.

It's important to not make materialism and wealth the center of your life.

It's important that you never carry an illegal weapon.

It's important that you know that you are loved no matter what choices you make in your life.

It's important that you become personally responsible for your academic performance.

It's okay to be nervous about your upcoming surgery.

It's important that you don't need to worry about my upcoming surgery.

It's important that you don't worry about my illness and the pain that I am in.

It's important to know how proud we are of you going off to college.

It's important that you understand that I know how hard you are trying in school and that it's not your fault.

It's important that I tell you how thankful I am for your love, support and help with my disability.

It's important that you understand the reasons we give you consequences.

It's important not to be overly worried about your body image.

It's important to live by the principles and the values you believe in.

It's important to be proud of yourself even if you have a mental health or emotional problem.

It's important that you shouldn't be a follower.

It's important that you let us back into your life and try to forgive us.

It's important to be able to admit your mistakes and be honest with yourself.

It's important that you understand that you can't always do things your way and that you must respect our rules.

It's important that you are not afraid to live life to the fullest and take some calculated risks.

It's important you understand that you are not a disappointment to us.

It's important to not lose your confidence when you take a risk that didn't work out.

It's important to know that we're here for you after your breakup.

It's important that we tell you that the relationship you're in is hurtful to you.

It's important we listen and hear your point of view and your opinions.

It's important that we know the truth even though you are afraid to tell us.

It's important to make good choices.

It's important to pick yourself up and move forward even after you've done something you're ashamed of.

It's important that I apologize for being so inappropriate and over reactive with you.

It's not healthy to believe that all your friends are better than you at most things.

It's important that you don't feel embarrassed about our family, home and standard of living.

It's important you understand that we have no excuse for yelling at you.

It's important you understand there is no excuse for us not listening to your opinions and feelings.

It's important I admit that I should have discussed our intentions to get married before the decision was made.

It's important that you realize I care about you now just as much as I did before I got remarried.

It's important that as a young man you fully respect women

It's important to understand how your outward appearance will be judged by society.

It's important that my daughter is careful when dating boys.

It's important that I take responsibility for failing to protect you while you were growing up.

It's important that you know we support your decision to be in a biracial relationship.

It's important that you know we will support you through this teen pregnancy.

It's important you understand how sorry we are that we set up obstacles to your independence and didn't support your choices and decisions.

It's important that you realize you're dating people that have a different value system than you.

It's important that you set healthier boundaries when you are dating.

It's important to manage your emotions whenever people don't agree with you.

It's important that you try to become more independent and less reliant on us.

It's important that you stop bringing inappropriate and potentially dangerous and illegal items into our home.

It's important that you are not too hard on yourself regarding your attention deficit and focusing problems.

It's important that you never feel so desperate about a problem that you don't want to live.

It's important that you are not too hard on yourself regarding your weight and body image.

It's important that you are not too hard on yourself regarding your current medical disability and illness.

It's important that you are honest with yourself about the problems and issues you currently face.

It's important that you reduce or eliminate the number of major risks that you are taking with your life.

It's important that you be concerned about your careless and dangerous driving patterns.

It's important that you learn to accept the consequences that you are given when you make poor choices rather than dig a deeper hole for yourself.

It's important that you are no longer allowed to break the rules and structure that we've set up here in our home.

It's important that you feel and show remorse for your negative behaviors and actions.

It's important that you understand the reasons I don't believe you should engage in sex before marriage.

It's important that you know how proud we are of your involvement in scouting.

It's important that you know that I am always here for you to talk to me.

It's important that you know how proud we are of your involvement in sports.

It's important that you know how proud I am of the man you have become.

It's important that you know how dangerous it is to drive and text.

It's important that you know the danger of driving while using your cell phone.

It's important that you know how addicted I feel you are to the computer.

It's important that you know how addicted I feel you are to the cell phone.

It's important that you know how addicted I feel you are to video games.

It's important that you know, how upset I am, that you won't accept the decision I made to start dating again.