Talking with Teens

Communicating with your Teen

I mean, let's be honest. When your kid becomes a teenager, there are certainly days when you're like, "What is this alien life form that I'm living with?" Like, she used to be so sweet, and we used to talk all the time. What is that, and what is it trying to say and do, and these sorts of things? So it can be frustrating as a parent to try to understand how to effectively communicate with your teen.

How to Connect with Your Teenage Son or Daughter

Here's my number one piece of advice, is do not, whatever you do, lecture. If you lecture, it accomplishes one thing, them tuning you out. However, anytime you want to lecture, just rephrase the statement as a question. So instead of saying, "I can't believe you did that," just say, "Tell me what went on? What did you learn? What would you do differently next time?" You see, lecturing leads to kids tuning you out, versus questions lead to critical thinking. And as a parent, that's our entire goal is to get our kids, particularly our teens, to be able to think critically, independent from us. ... Read more