There’re a lot of pronouns that you use when you talk to your teen. If you recall a pronoun is something that stands in for a person(s), place(s) or thing(s). There’re common ones that are short, but sometimes you use a lot of words to stand for something only you know in your head.
Chores
Do your chores. Like what? Chores are an unpleasant but necessary task. Really. Look it up. This can mean anything your teen hates to do. I’m banking that list is
long. So if you say, “Go do your chores” and you fail to be specific. Well, your teen might come back saying, “Well that was rough, but I’m glad I finally cleaned up my social network inbox. I hate doing that!”
Protect yourself
This is usually preceded by “Don’t be stupid” then you add,” protect yourself.” Well I want to ask you with what? Protect yourself with Karate? A weapon? A shield? Emotionally? Protect yourself with what? This is usually how the sex talk goes and the assumptions in that sentence are exactly why the sex talk needs to be done. If you code it all up with pronouns, they’ll just shrug their shoulders and go, “Okay.”
Be smart
Hmmm…do you mean academically? Streetwise? As in I was being stupid just a minute ago? I tell you be smart means something different to each person. They think they’re doing alright until you show them the right way or they make a mistake that is costly. When we start a job, they train us if only by giving us a probationary period. They understand that no one really comes out the gate ready to go. They need to be taught, watched and then they need a lot of practice.
Be tough
Okay. I’m workin’ out now three times weekly instead of two. I have noticed some bicep bulk. Is that what you mean? Ohhhhh, you mean no one should ever connect to me emotionally and I should be mysterious with my friends! You really meant I should be able to take life’s knocks with some resilience? What’s resilience? Oh, being hopeful that things can get better even though I feel completely beat up. Be tough. AND it can mean learning to walk away from a fight because that never solved anything. Okay I think that makes sense too because I thought you meant I had to work out five times per week, doh!
Eat right
I do. I eat using my utensils. I always forget the side the fork versus the spoon goes on, but I think I know how to eat right. You mean that’s not what you mean. You mean I can’t eat orange chippy things for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seriously? That’s a bummer. There’s no orange category on that pyramid? Dang! Alright I’ll try a carrot.
Tags: communication, pronouns
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