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Your teenager is a very special person. Teens are growing up, growing apart and growing in, and their thoughts and attitudes reflect this more each day. Encourage this growth while teaching life skills in a safe and creative environment: involve them in redecorating their own personal space.
By helping your teenager learn to plan ahead, follow a budget and shape an individualized world, you will find a rewarding, though challenging, lesson in maturity.
Learning to Plan Ahead
Planning is critical. Not only does it support staying on-budget, logical progression is the necessary yang to the yin of creativity.
- If your teen is the quiet, reflective type he or she may wish to brainstorm and put together a list of changes solo.
- If the teen is more social, and outgoing, consider and suggest having friends over to help with the brainstorming.
- It may be helpful to establish categories of redecorating to be filled in on a paper list, such as walls, furniture and decorations.
- The inclusion of siblings should be addressed and decided, if applicable!
An important part of this process is to make yourself available for consultation without overpowering the process, or allowing peers to do so. Be clear that plans must be approved but let everything be initially open for discussion. Creativity paints with a wide brush; details are added with finer points.
Developing Budgeting Skills
Being firm about the amount of money that may be spent on the project is critical. Do not, however, allow dollars to stifle the child's spirit. Instead, when you discuss the cost of the changes, highlight opportunities to be creative:
- Instead of purchasing wallpaper, painting patterns with sponge cutouts.
- Refinishing piece(s) of old furniture
- Creating artwork from memorabilia
A wealth of information is available both off- and online about decorating frugally. Researching this with friends and/or together with you can be very enjoyable and produces the bonus skill of teamwork.
Learning to Use Space and Color
It is a well-documented fact that different colors have different effects upon the psyche. This is especially true of children. The brightness of colors he or she will desire is dependent upon intensity of personality, but nudge in the direction of colors based upon the desired effect. Some examples of the effects of color:
- White: The most powerful "color" is not actually a color but the presence of all colors. Very cheerful and encouraging. Its neutrality is easy to accent and makes a room easy to light.
- Black: While this is a powerful color but, while its use in clothing is popular, it is not advisable to use much in a bedroom. The area will be difficult to light, and it is not emotionally uplifting.
- Red: The emotional intensity of this color makes it unsuitable for covering a large area, as it literally causes the heartbeat and breathing to speed up, but it is good as an accent.
- Blue: The ocean and sky are enormous, and so is this color. In direct opposition to red, blue actually causes the body to produce relaxing chemical compounds. Darker shades, however, may be cold and depressing.
- Green: Nature. The color of trees and grass calms and refreshes the spirit in any shade although, as with blue, lighter shades are more appropriate to larger areas.
- Yellow: Like red, a stimulating color; its area of specialty is the metabolism. Cheerful and positive, it can be overpowering if used too intensely. A lighter yellow is a good color for a study area.
- Purple: Rare in nature, generally considered the color of royalty. A luxurious accent, although lighter shades progressing from lilac to pink are very feminine and romantic over large areas.
- Brown: Earthy and solid, like wood or the soil, it connotes a feeling of virtue. You may find that this more masculine color mood-dampening and difficult to light over large areas.
Spatial considerations are just as important as color. Trying to put too much in too small a space can make someone feel claustrophobic or cozy; a room with nothing in it may cause your teen to feel either free, or lost. As children, we relate ourselves to our surroundings. As with the process of choosing colors, teens must learn to relate the surroundings to themselves.
Your child is special, and very different. Teenagers must learn to allow individuality to shine through while living within good habits and values that will endure throughout adulthood. While this grand balancing act is difficult, you will both come to understand that it wasn't about decorating a room as much as it was about producing someone beautiful.
Erica B. wants to help people find the best car insurance discounts, because everyone knows auto insurance costs can be excessive. When she's not working, she can be seen at the gym trying to stay fit.
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