Empower and Understand Your Immigrant Teen

Being a teen is never easy, but this is especially true if you’re trying to adjust to a new environment. The idea of moving from your home can be stressful and intimidating. But when that move also means leaving your home country for a foreign land, you’ve now added culture shock to the mix. So, what can parents do to make that transition to a new place and country easier for their immigrant teens?

A Connection to Home

Transitioning to a new place can be difficult for anyone. But the process can be a little less painful when you can call home whenever you want. Whether you are in Haiti and can make use of the Natcom Haiti recharge online feature, or are elsewhere and need an international mobile top up, such a plan can make calling home to friends and family much easier and wallet-friendly.

Build a New Community

Along the same lines, encourage your teen to build connections in their new community. Especially if you’re moving to a location with a thriving ethnic enclave, you can help your teen build a sense of belonging by connecting with local groups or afterschool organizations designed to ease the impact of culture shock.

Encourage Them to Pursue Hobbies

Whether your teen loves photography, painting, or even just dancing, these activities can help build ties in the community and give them a sense of purpose. In some cases, they might even be able to find new friends to spend time with and enjoy their passion projects. And you can use online prepaid mobile recharge to make sure that they can check in with you when they need you.

Keep Lines of Communication Open

These days it feels like the teenage phase is far busier than in previous generations. Everything from after-school activities, jobs, and of course classwork is occupying more time than ever. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t carve out time to stay connected with your teen. Even if conflicting work schedules make you feel like passing ships in the night, Digicel online top up can help you stay in touch throughout the day.

Give Them Space When They Need It

Encouraging feelings of belonging and togetherness is important — especially if you’re adapting to life in a new country. But there’s a difference between being supportive and smothering someone. We don’t know a teen anywhere who doesn’t want just a bit of space from the watchful gaze of their parents. Giving them the space to spread their wings just a bit, will also encourage their self-confidence and willingness to explore their new community.

Give Them Responsibilities

Depending on how old your teen is and if they have a job or receive an allowance, it might be time to give them responsibilities beyond household chores. In particular, encouraging them to manage a few of their expenses can teach them important life skills like budgeting money. Having to pay for mobile usage, and being mindful of how much data or minutes they’re using in a month will force them to be more responsible with their phone time.

Learning to adjust to life in a new country can be difficult, but staying connected to loved ones back home eTopUpOnline's airtime top up can make the transition easier.