You and your child: two different worlds, two different perspectives—and a giant disconnect that can make communicating a real mystery.
Communicating with your child or teen can be challenging and yet, there are so many important conversations you need to have with your kids throughout their lives. You need to communicate with them about their responsibilities at home and school. Sometimes you need to have tough conversations about things like peer pressure, bullying, online safety, drugs and alcohol, and sex. And then you need to communicate about topics outside of their control like violence in the world, events being reported in the news, or natural disasters. You may even need to communicate about how to communicate with others.
This can all be difficult to navigate. In the articles below, the experts at Empowering Parents will show you effective ways to communicate with your child or teen.
As a therapist and the mother of three teenagers myself, I know firsthand that the more you push your kids, the more they get defensive and dig in their heels. They become reactive in the form of explosiveness or shutting down and ignoring you. When they are not exploding, they are thinking the following: “My... Read more »
You know the drill: you’re trying to talk to your teen about curfew. Or dinner. Or absolutely anything—and they pretend they can’t hear you. They start an argument with you, or give you an eye roll and a "Whatever." Or they turn up their music. They won’t lift their eyes from their screens. They scoff... Read more »
The silent treatment gives your child a feeling of power and control over you. It's how they push your buttons and get you to leave them alone. Know that if your child gives you the silent treatment, that's probably the best problem-solving skill he has at that moment. Simply put, he's trying to deal with... Read more »
Every parent gets mad and says things in the heat of the moment that they regret—nobody’s perfect, and there is no such thing as a perfect parent. At one time or another, most parents also report feeling like their teen is not listening to them. You wonder why what you’re saying doesn’t seem to have any effect—it goes “in ... Read more »
Pouting, whining, and sulking are three of the most annoying ways that kids communicate their displeasure, anger, or frustration with a situation. This behavior is not just limited to young children, either—teens do it because they haven't always learned the skills to express their frustration in an appropriate way. Simply put: it works for them. When... Read more »
As a parent, when all else fails, sometimes all you can do is laugh. But did you also know that finding the humor in a situation is actually a helpful coping skill that, when used correctly, can be very effective? For starters, laughter helps give you some objectivity and allows you to find common ground... Read more »
Does your child seem to interrupt every conversation with the words, "But Mom..." or "But Dad..." ? Do they constantly cut you off mid-sentence to tell you that something's not fair? Interrupting comes from a variety of sources, including over-stimulation, competition with siblings and peers, impulsivity and general family patterns of communication. It’s helpful to... Read more »
