Whether you are thrilled or have instant anxiety, it can be a little jarring if your teen says they want to go into the Army Reserves. You may be feeling a mix of emotions, which is completely fine! This is an exciting and of course, scary, time to be a parent so you will want to discuss it with your teen to make sure they know what they are getting into.
Check Your Emotions
First of all, no matter how you are feeling, you don’t want those emotions to transfer onto your teenager and their choices. If they approached you and said they are interested in joining the Army, you will want to keep an open mind and have a solid conversation with them about it. Although it will be hard, try not to let your emotions get the best of you, and react negatively or in a super stressed or anxious manner. Your teen will most likely want your blessing or words of encouragement, and if you are trying to deter them from making that decision, then they will feel like they don’t have anyone to talk to about it.
Even if you are thrilled and ready to help them in any capacity to prepare, you still want to keep it to yourself while you discuss the options with your teen. You still want to make sure they are considering all the options by signing up with the Army, and it’s your job to prepare them for this type of thinking before taking the next step.
Discussion
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with your teen wanting to join the Army! You may be feeling anxious or stressed because it’s your son or daughter and you want to protect them, and this feeling is completely natural. But if this is truly your child’s wish, then you must listen to why they want to enlist and help them decide if it’s the right choice or not.
Making sure they are fully aware of what the Army entails is vital for their success, so make sure you talk with them about how intense it is and that it will push them to their limit (on multiple occasions). It can be far too easy to try to talk them out of it, especially if you don’t want them to enlist and there’s a lot of hard truths about the Army that your child may not realize. But you want to keep it about enlisting and about what is right for your child, even if it means they would ultimately enlist.
Katie Kyzivat