agency in teens

In this Teen Tidbit, I dive into why agency is such a powerful (and often overlooked) developmental need for teenagers. Agency is really the combination of having choices and having the skills to act on those choices, which together give teens real options in life.

I’ve intentionally woven this into the Teens Cook Real Food course, sometimes in ways that feel a little chaotic, like cooking multiple versions of the same recipe at once to show how flexible cooking really is. 

Even when it feels messy or overwhelming at first, teens are more than capable of cutting through the chaos, following a recipe, and making something delicious.

More importantly, all those options feed what they crave developmentally: independence and ownership. My encouragement is to look for ways at home to give your teens more agency by pairing choices with real skills, because that combination is what helps them grow into confident, capable adults.

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No time for the video? Here are the notes!

Time Stamps for Teen Agency through Cooking

0:16 – Yesterday’s tidbit was on passing on ownership to your kids when it comes to health, time, and responsibility. It’s a big task!

0:30 – Passing on ownership is easier when teens take agency. One of my videos in the parenting series addresses this mindset shift!

0:53 – Agency is the combination of choices and abilities.

1:02 – In Teens Cook Real Food, we showed this by cooking multiple versions of a meal at once!

2:10 – Some testing families loved this and some didn’t. It often depended on whether there were allergies in their family or friend groups.

3:08 – I think it’s a gift to be able to cater to allergies and food preferences. What a skill to have!

3:47 – How can you apply this cooking agency at your house?

Resources We Mention for Teen Agency