How To Encourage Communication With Teens
4 min readWhat makes teenagers more difficult to hold a conversation with than most other individuals? It is the fact that they are in a vulnerable place, at the cusp between childhood and adulthood, and misconceptions about the meaning, and intonation of a certain set of words can be interpreted differently.
Teenagers are always looking to stand their own in conversations with older people as the latter tend to baby them and treat teenagers as children incapable of taking decisions for themselves. At other times this might be the opposite with them being expected to already know how to act like responsible individuals. Unlike parents, institutions that sell online courses have strategic ways of communication. Parents can learn a lot from their methodologies too, with a personal touch.
For all these reasons and more, teenagers may be reluctant to begin or continue interacting with others outside of their age group. However, this simply cannot be carried on in the long run, which is why we have provided a list of approaches to try.
Try to be a good listener-
A good listener is willing to keep their comments to themselves and instead allows the other person to speak. This is a tactic most know as being efficient in learning about others
Stay away from the blame game-
Oftentimes as parents, our first response to the information a child is providing can be to blame them for their own or their friend’s actions. However, this is a wrong reaction and can be misinterpreted by your teenager as defensive behavior.
Be logical in your arguments-
Yet, at the end of the day, there are always situations in which teenagers may be wrong, a natural occurrence considering their young age and level of maturity. At this point, parents need to step in and argue their point of view to make their children understand how their actions may have been wrong.
However, keep in mind that raising your voice, or in extreme cases, your hand, is never the solution. Instead, it will build hostility and make your child afraid of engaging in conversation again.
The trick is to have an open mind and stay calm even if what your teen is saying makes you want to take action. Think things through and be logical in whatever punishment or corrective action you think is necessary for the situation. The same logic is applied to platforms that sell courses online. Repercussions of not following acceptable behavior are often far from being drastic instead, work on guiding students into better habits.
Do not jump to assumptions-
If your teenager is not willing to share certain aspects of their life or are
Communication doesn’t have to be hard if you keep the basics in mind. With some patience and respect talking to your teenager will be a breeze in no time.
Don’t allow escalating things-
As a parent, you are responsible for taking away the stress from your teen’s life, not giving it to them. Escalating things would be taking something beyond the necessary treatment. If they perform poorly on a test, don’t escalate it by giving them severe punishments and reminding them about the grade. Acknowledge their shortcomings, help them figure them out, and move on.
Escalating things will only make you get into a heated argument with your child. Have a calm discussion, respect your teenager and allow them to respect your emotions.
Make engagement easy-
Do you feel like your teenager is withdrawn from you, not paying attention, and not trying to communicate? It might be because you are difficult to talk to, lose your temper easily, and tend to get disappointed instead of trying to help them.
To be easy to talk to, you need to approach your child differently. Don’t judge them or make them afraid of coming to talk to you. Have a calm attitude with a lot of empathy. After all, your child is still in the learning phase and deserves to be taught rather than scolded.
Be an active listener-
Often, teens only want you to listen to them. They want to be understood and heard. They seek acknowledgment from not only their friend-circles but also their parents because you are the first person they can rely on. You can understand a lot about your teenager by listening to them. Try some hand gestures or a simple nod to make them feel heard when they are talking.
Communicating with teens can be difficult, but it is nothing impossible. It needs a lot of effort, encouragement, and technique. With enough commitment, parents can easily communicate with their teens every day!
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