I am fairly sure that the majority of the readers of this article will agree that the teenage years are far from easy. I would even have to say that in this day and age the current crop of teenagers have never had so much pressure. Peer pressure, stressing about their looks, exams and worrying about their love life; it can be quite hard. So what can us as parents do in an attempt to lower these stress levels and to make our child’s teenage years more bareable?

“I blame the kids parents” is a famous saying. At times I agree with the statement as I sometimes can not understand the amount of young teenagers who are still out and about late at night. Now there is absolutely no way that I would allow my children to be out that late; I want to make sure that they are tucked safely in bed well before this time. So how come the parents of these teenagers are happy for them to still be out?

I certainly do not claim to have all of the answers. I am purely a web marketer who spends his day promoting a number of websites with regards to subjects such as cost reduction, DVD authoring and stuttering treaments. I therefore am not some kind of expert when it comes to all aspects of bringing up a teenager. I do however have a teenage daughter myself and am trying my best to ensure that she has a happy and as stress free as possible teenage experience.

I attempt to achieve a certain level of harmony by setting a number of house rules. She has to be in by a certain time at night; she needs to ensure that all of her homework is completed before she does venture out; she is asked to keep her room tidy and she is also required to help around the house.

She is richly rewarded if she manages to stick to these rules.

There are the old hormones and mood swings to contend with. I try and keep calm when this happens by taking my lovely dog Cassie for a long walk!