Why does my teenager not tell me everything about his or her life?

Everyone values privacy, and teenagers especially do not always like to share every aspect of their life with their parents. This is perfectly normal. Sometimes, certain things are best to tell different people (eg. friends). It is the same way that you would not tell a certain person in your life everything, but you would share different aspects with different people. If there is something you want to know in particular, perhaps give gentle reminders to your teenage child that you care and that you're there if they want to tell you anything - carefully addressing the subject, but not forcibly pushing through it :)

Teenagers are funny, they feel telling their parents or guardians is scary, they are sometimes worried that they might be angry, not take them seriously, laugh, be very worried and concerned about them. It is never a good idea to take it personally, they just don't want to worry you or make you out of your comfort zone. So what they sometimes do, is speak to childline, speak to a friend or friend's parent and sometimes if they have a mentor at school, they talk to them. It is perfectly normal for this to happen in a parent's life, almost every teenager goes through this phase.

First of all, it might be something that comes with puberty. Teenage years are usually defined by a "rebellion" against parents and what they stand for, therefore, sharing every aspect of their life with their parents is not desirable anymore. And that is perfectly okay. If you suspect something unusual might be going on with your child, it might be a good idea to carefully address it with them, but without pushing too much.

Teens are in a middle spot between being a child, when their parents need to be managing their activities and risks, and being adults, when they'll be managing their own lives. It's natural for them to want some privacy, to learn to understand the world without help and make their own decisions about what to do. Part of good parenting is learning to let go - making sure that, once your child has a foundation in ethics and understanding, giving them enough space to explore the world and make decisions, and that includes making their own mistakes. It's important to give them that space when they still have the fallback support of parents, so they learn to judge risks for themselves. Some parents think, "but I can't be helpful if they won't tell me what's going on!" But part of being helpful is not knowing! Teens need to figure out what's important, what they can do alone, and what they need help with, and they can't do that if a parent is always involved, even if the parent is only providing loving support.

Becasue teenagers may not feel a need to do so. At most of the times it's because they do not want parents to be a hinderance in their lives like what I initially thought. But after a few major lessons learnt, they will start sharing. Having no on to share their sadness or problems with, they will eventually choose parents as their new friends. Every teenager will have to go through this pace in life, it's all about how you treat your kids. Whether to be friends or parents is in your hand. I was once a teenager and this is how i exactly felt when I was in high school and college. They will have much more better things to talk to their friends than parents. Most of the time it's because of the age gap and generation differences. Things will be fine, trust me. Maybe you can show signs that you care and you're willing to give them a shoulder to lean on. Good luck.