Why is it so hard for a long distance relationship to work? Patterns. The distance doesn’t allow your teen to see the patterns that teach them how to deal with that person. Patterns or the occurrence of one person having a behavior and the other person learning what that behavior means can really only occur [...]
You’re a divorced parent that’s dating and things are good enough except your teen is going bananas with the attitude. You can’t underestimate the bond your teen has with you as a single parent; talk about your “BFF.” If you’re one of those single parents that has a very close relationship with your teen then [...]
“I think my parents aren’t the right parents for me. Otherwise, they’re okay.” Parenting from your teen’s perspective can be so informative. I know you may think they’re too young to have a true idea of what needs to happen, but every once in a while ask them for a grade on how you’re doing. [...]
There are expectations that your teen thinks they’re supposed to meet. They should do this or they should look like that. It can be overwhelming at times. The expectation of what they think they’re supposed to do when they start to develop who they are is what others think of them. Your teen’s sense of [...]
The toughest decision you have to make about your teen is whether to override their sense of free will; to take their power away to make choices for themselves. You do this with grounding or other disciplinary action and it can be hard to make the decision sometimes no matter how much of a hard [...]
Waiting for the click. The a-ha moment when the brain gets what it’s supposed to do. This moment is priceless. Not everyone gets it early and some never get it all. The brain has its own way of making connections that finally get that the sounds of the alphabet allow you to read, the drunk [...]
Some of the earliest memories we have are at four or five years old. What does your teen remember? The thing about moments is that you don’t know you’re creating one. You live your life and things distract you or you say things mindlessly and your teen remembers that. Sometimes they’re funny and they’re the [...]
