‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’s Maci Bookout Reveals the ‘Hard’ Part of Bentley Entering His Teens (Exclusive)

Maci Bookout is learning all about the ups and downs of raising a teenager now that her oldest son Bentley is officially in his teen years. The Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star opened up to PopCulture.com about the hardest and best parts of this new era of her life as a mom ahead of Tuesday’s all-new episode of the MTV show.

“I would say the teenage years, they’re a whole different kind of struggle,” said the Teen Mom OG alum, who shares Bentley, 13, with ex Ryan Edwards and daughter Jayde, 7, and son Maverick, 6, with husband Taylor McKinney. “It’s hard to parent at all, but much less a teenager, a young man, because the kids get to a point just like I did where they want to make their own decisions, live their own life, deal with their own consequences, make the mistakes that they’re going to make.”

It can be hard not to try and protect Bentley from every mistake he’ll ever make, but Bookout knows it’s the right choice. “That’s hard, because sometimes it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m telling you, I did this and this is what’s going to happen. Listen to me,’” she told PopCulture. “But you can’t really do that. You do have to let them learn to fly a little bit, and that’s hard to do.”

One of the biggest conversations that Bookout has been having to have with her oldest comes down to social media, which the MTV star says she doesn’t want to “rule his life or be a ruler of anything in his life,” despite it being such a huge part of the world today. “I know it’s hard for people not to do it, but I always tell Bentley, I’m like, ‘Just remember, people only show you what they want you to see,’” she shared. “‘Would you ever post a video on Instagram of you striking out in a baseball game or getting pinned in a wrestling match? Probably not. So everything you’re seeing from other people is only going to be what they want you to see, so comparisons shouldn’t exist.’”

Bookout also reminds the 13-year-old to “remain human” in a digital world. “You are not social media. You are not Instagram. You are not MTV,” she tells her son. “You’re Bentley and you’re a human. You’re not a computer.” The teenage stage isn’t all strife though. “[Teenage years are] also fun because as [the kids] get older too, certain conversations start happening [and the] dialogue changes a little bit,” the mother-of-three shared. “And I just feel like it’s always a pleasure to watch my kids enter the next stage or phase of life and see how they grow into the new person that they are.” Teen Mom: The Next Chapter airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.