Empowering Young Adults: A Guide to Building Strong Self-Management Skills

As a parent, you want what’s best for your child. When they’re young, you try to do anything and everything you can to meet their basic needs. Sometimes, it can feel like you’re back in health class with a fake baby trying out various keys that represent food, sleep, and diaper changes.

As your child grows up, you let them take on more roles and responsibilities than you would’ve previously. Instead of doing everything for them, you want them to try to figure things out on their own so they can build the necessary skills for their own development.

This transition can be hard for parents because seeing your kid struggle or work through something can be difficult to bear. Just know that it’s for their own benefit in the long run. In most cases, making mistakes and failing can be teachable moments that help your child better understand and grow.

Here is a guide to empowering young adults by helping them build strong self-management skills.

Managing Emotions

Developing emotional regulation skills is extremely important for young adults to learn how to manage their emotions. Teens and young adults go through a lot of changes during this time. They may change schools, find new friends, try new extracurricular activities, and, on top of all of that, they’re also going through bodily changes. It can be a lot for anyone to deal with.

Implementing techniques and modeling positive behavior can help young adults better manage their anxiety and stress levels. Some ways you can do this are through deep breathing, practicing mindfulness, or repeating a daily mantra or affirmation.

Time Management

Young adults have a lot more going on as they grow up. They have to find ways to manage their school day, homework, studying, extracurricular activities, home life, and social groups. Time management can be a huge piece of self-management. It’s what ensures that people stay focused, meet deadlines, and avoid any unnecessary stressors. Time management techniques include creating and sticking to a schedule, prioritizing tasks and to-dos, and trying to avoid procrastinating.

Setting and Achieving Goals

Setting unrealistic goals can be more problematic than not setting any goals at all. You can help a young teen set and achieve goals by encouraging them to make sure their goals are SMART.

SMART goals mean that they’re specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Working with young adults on making sure they have both short and long-term goals can help them stay dedicated and motivated, as well as making sure they’re taking the time to celebrate their wins along the way.

Making Decisions

While you may have made decisions for your child when they were younger, they need to be able to weigh out the different pros and cons when making decisions for themselves. You can assist them in identifying problems, coming up with solutions, and considering the different benefits as well as the consequences. It’s important to let young adults make decisions on their own so they can learn and grow.

When young adults can make decisions, they can see how different situations play out. It’s okay if they make the wrong choice or even fail. These types of decisions can act as life lessons and help them learn, grow, and make better decisions in the future. Encourage them to problem solve and make decisions on their own so they can build their sense of independence and confidence levels.

Next Steps

Building self-management skills is a necessity for young adults so they can feel empowered. A teen therapist can help provide an outside third party’s perspective in assisting you and your teen in navigating this time. We can help you and your teen build those necessary skills. Reach out today to learn more about how working with a mental health professional can help empower you both.