School Age Show your interest. Check homework, talk about what's happening in school, ask their friends over, and find time to see your children's teacher occasionally. Assign kid-sized chores. Kids this age love to help. Nothing makes a child lose interest faster than having to do something too difficult, or too easy.
Adolescence Refuse to get confused.
Expect your teen to do this, and be prepared to comfort, reassure and, on occasion, look the other way. Face the facts. Let your affection show. Cut those apron strings. Trust your teens to make it all the way.