Improving Parent-Teen Communication
|
From Lorraine Segal's Conflict Remedy Blog January 2011 |
Any communication between parents and their children can be difficult, but when those children become teenagers, the potential for miscommunication increases greatly.
Parents are often bewildered by the sudden changes in their kids. Of course, children are always changing anyway, but particularly with teenagers, the techniques and communication style that may have worked well before, falter in the face of a sullen or defiant teen.
One cause is a natural tension between what parents continue to want for their children—safety, protection, and success, and what teenagers want as they mature—freedom, autonomy, and being treated as adults (even though they still act like kids at least part of the time).
I saw a TV ad awhile ago which illustrates this disconnect. An adorable 6 year old girl asks to borrow her father’s car. To our shock, he reluctantly gives permission.Then we see that she is actually 16, but her father still sees her as much younger.
As kids grow from six to sixteen, the skills required for successful parenting change a great deal. But, it is absolutely possible for parents and teens to learn skills that will improve their communication even when the situation or topic is new or difficult.
Most important for parents is learning to listen effectively rather than talking at teens. Lecturing actually doesn’t work well with anyone, and teens tend to explode or shut down. A common misconception parents and teens share is that listening means agreeing. On the contrary, listening opens connection and can lead to successful problem solving.
Almost everyone, including teenagers, responds to genuine interest and curiosity. Teens see right through phoniness. But, if you show that you want to hear their perspective, if you ask open-ended questions and listen carefully to the response, if you can be fully in the moment and not plan your next response, teens are often very responsive and open.
Another transformative technique is learning to unhook from triggers and hot buttons. Both adults and teens can make comments which send the other person “through the roof”, short-circuiting any real discussion. Slowing down responses, even taking a time out, recognizing when you’ve been triggered, can help teens and adults respond from a saner, less reactive space.
I’ve been leading parent-teen communication workshops for a juvenile diversion program at my local community mediation center. Workshop participants have to be there in order to prevent the teens being sent to juvenile hall, and often resent it, parents and teens alike.
And still, their hunger to improve communication is so great, that most of them have some very positive experiences by the end and are enthusiastic about the new skills they’ve learned.
Parents can’t communicate with their teens lovingly and clearly if they don’t know how. That’s why workshops, coaching sessions, and mediations which help parents and teens learn and practice these techniques are so important.
Biography
Lorraine Segal, M.A., has her own Sonoma County conflict & forgiveness coaching, mediation, and training business, Conflict Remedy, based in Santa Rosa, California. She also teaches in Sonoma State University’s Conflict Resolution certificate program and leads communication skills workshops and webinars on forgiveness, co-parenting skills, and communication. She specializes in transforming communication for divorced parents.
She has presented face to face or via teleseminar for ACR, ADRHub, Women’s Global Leadership Institute, local non profits and schools. Her coaching and mediation services are available by telephone as well as face to face. Her blog and more information about her and her services are available at www.ConflictRemedy.com
Comments
| Free subscription to comments on this article | Add Brief Comment |