Looking outside, realizing the snow is gone here in Minnesota, I contemplate the muddy fields. Soon hay will be growing, then corn. But now, the fields are unprepared, empty, and fallow. I liken them to our teens. Teens are unprepared to go into life without some help. They are empty inside, until we as parents give them our love and teach them how to live. They are fallow because they have not learned their purpose or begun their life's work.

As parents, we must recognize that all these traits make kids unhappy, confused, and difficult. The seeds of preparation, life's fullness and usefulness, should be planted in these teens while they're still children.

When they hit those teen years, the period of flowering youth, many weeds are evident. It is time to help them get rid of the bad stuff they have accumulated and cultivate the better parts of life. Parents need to assist with this "weeding".

If you follow this analogy to its logical end, you will watch your teen begin to blossom into a full-grown plant with roots firmly in the ground and the branches of their personality spreading out. They will be able to withstand the wind, bending, but never breaking. Searching out the sunshine, they will live a useful existence giving back to the world whatever they can give.

Soon, our teens' fields will yield plentiful crops.

Credits: Jo Ann Wentzel