|
Faith Topics
How is Your Teen Wired?
Putting the Puzzle Together
Experts say it’s best to structure your life so that about 70 percent of
your waking hours are spent in areas where your preferences naturally lie. Life
is much more than a career, of course, but since a job takes up a large part of
those waking hours — working and thinking about work — your teen will
be much happier if her career fits her preferences.
Even within a career field, it’s good to look for a niche that fits your teen best.
|
Even within a career field, it’s good to look for a niche that fits your
teen best. For instance, pediatrics is normally better for a right-brained nurse,
while the intensive care unit usually will be a better fit for a left-brained
nurse.
If your teen chooses a career that doesn’t match her brain preference,
she’ll need to make up for it in other areas of her life. If right-brained
Kevin’s job requires him to manage, schedule and make decisions, he’ll
want to allow plenty of time for walks in the park, journal writing and singing
on the church worship team. These activities will give relief from the brain
strain he feels at work.
If your teen is left-brained and extroverted, look into careers that
involve negotiating, leadership, goal setting and decision making, management,
mechanics or repair.
If your teen is right-brained and extroverted, consider careers that
involve troubleshooting, entrepreneuring, self-directed activity (consultant,
small business owner, truck driver), marketing, public relations, teaching or
counseling.
If your teen is left-brained and introverted, explore fields that involve
researching, diagnosing, accounting, bookkeeping, engineering and following
detailed instructions accurately.
And if your teen is right-brained and introverted, check out occupations
that involve computer programming, acting, music, composing, guiding, counseling,
pastoral activities, self-directed work situations (resource specialist or consulting),
or designing new things.
Here are three steps counselor Tim Sanford recommends to a teen piecing together
her personal puzzle:
-
Observe and become aware of who you are. Psalm 139:14 says, “I
will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Do you
really believe God values you and has created you with unique abilities?
-
Evaluate yourself honestly. Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search
me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See
if there be any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Have you asked God to show you your weaknesses as well as your strengths?
-
Get honest feedback from others. According to Proverbs 11:14, “In
a multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14, KJV).
How many “counselors” (parents, friends, pastors, teachers,
etc.) have you asked for help in figuring out your future? Are you open
to hearing things from them that make you a little uncomfortable? Or do
you listen only to people who agree with you?
Following these three steps will help your teen develop mentally, physically,
socially and spiritually (see Luke 2:52) into the person God has designed him
or her to become.
Adapted from Wired by God: Empowering Your Teen for a Life of Passion and Purpose by Joe White with Larry Weeden, Copyright © 2004, Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Do you have thoughts, questions, advice on this topic? Post your stories and comments in the forum for other parents to respond to. Enter the forum now.
|
 |
|
