Your teen wants to control the conversation

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Speaker: Dr. Lisa Damour
Source: WHAT TEENAGERS NEED (And How To Provide It) | Rich Roll Podcast

This feels like one of those things that's so insanely obvious once it's articulated in this way.

Our teens always seem to be disinterested, and often annoyed, that we want to engage with them in conversation and learn about their life.

Of course we want to do this. We're their parents.

But it happens so frequently, almost without fail, that our kid will eventually share with us. Sometimes they can even be overly talkative. But we just embrace it because we know how infrequently these conversations can happen.

Our children, especially our teens, just want some control.

And dictating the when, where, and how of conversations puts them in the driver's seat.

It doesn't mean we don't ask questions and try to engage with them, but it's probably not worth it for us to take it so personally when they reject our bids for dialogue.

As long as we can be open and available, they will come to us when they are ready. And we just need to be ready to receive them when that happens.

Over time, we may even learn a trick or two of when and how to best engage our children that will result in the desired interaction we're looking for.

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