Home: Tag : Tweens

Parents of tweens and teens often complain how their kids tune them out. Teens say the same thing about how their parents "never listen." Could it be that when we multi-task and only pretend to listen to our kids we're actually teaching them that auto-pilot listening is the way we communicate it in this family?

When tweens or teens push our buttons and we automatically react in anger, we tend to make a family situation worse. But when we can stop and ask ourselves "What does my child need right now?" we have a better chance of responding with clarity, compassion and understanding. That kind of thoughtful response will likely improve a parent-teen relationship.

Teens are often clueless when it comes to building and maintaining healthy relationships (the only kind worth having). It's not their fault since no one is born with relationship smarts. As parents, it our responsibility to educate our tweens and teens about what is and is not appropriate behavior in the Boyfriend/Girlfriend Zone.

As parents it's our biological imperative to solve all of our kids problems so that their lives hum along without a bump in the road. Or is that really what good parenting is all about?