Work-Family Ready: Navigating Your Job While Parenting Teens aims to help working parents and their employers better navigate the challenges of work-family fit when teens are in the household.
Edited by Scott Behson, author, professor of management and Silberman Global Faculty Fellow at Farleigh Dickinson University, and leading expert in work-life, wellness, and flexible workplaces.
The U.S. Surgeon General has heralded: “We must help stressed-out parents.”
As children grow older, the demands on parents shift from physical care and constant supervision to emotional support, guidance, and logistical coordination. For working parents of preteens and teens, this phase brings challenges that require new strategies and a more flexible approach.
Navigating an increased need for emotional availability.
Preteens and teens are navigating critical developmental stages, including identity formation, social pressures, and academic challenges. This means working parents must find ways to be available for deep, often spontaneous, conversations; help with complex schoolwork; or provide guidance through social conflicts. Balancing these demands with a full-time job can be draining and unpredictable.
Managing expanding schedules.
Parents of teens frequently juggle chauffeuring their children to various commitments, attending school events, and managing their own work responsibilities. Coordinating schedules becomes a significant source of stress, particularly for parents with demanding jobs or inflexible work hours.
Giving autonomy while still providing structure and oversight.
Teens push boundaries and make more decisions independently. Working parents must strike a balance between fostering independence and ensuring that their teens are making safe and responsible choices, which requires constant communication and often careful negotiation.
Balancing the emotional toll.
For parents of preteens and teens, the challenges are more psychological, as they worry about their children’s future, education, social relationships, and overall well-being while trying to maintain their professional responsibilities. These challenges demand not just time management, but emotional resilience and adaptability.
