by Barbara Kasey Smith

Created on: July 23, 2010

Importance of communicating with your teenager:

*Communication is a great seed to pass onto your children:

Have you took the time to sit down and have a good talk with your teenager? Communication with our children is one of the most important things of being a parent. If we do not take the time to listen and to get to know them (one on one), how will they ever be able to sit down and discuss an important issue with us or get a feel for what we would like them to know about us and our heartful feelings about different issues in general? One of the greatest ways to befriend our children is through communications with them.

*Don't live in the fastlane...take time to listen and care: 

Many of us parents get caught up in our own fast-lane and put our children on the end of our to do list. This is the wrong thing to do parents and it will lead to problems down the pike. We should turn this around and put our children first and take an interest in communicating with them about simple and complex problems they may be having. Don't be the leader in the conversations with your children but stop and listen to what they're saying to you. Have an open heart and a good ear and children will respond to your truthfulness and find your sincerity out about an issue and they'll also find out the type of person you are as an individual.

*Take time to enjoy conversation time with your child:

Many times problems crop up between a parent because we never took the time to go out for a walk, go to a movie, or take them out to dinner just to listen to their opinions, problems they may have needed to discuss, or how they feel about different problems they may be having at the time will more than likely come out. Relaxation and knowing a parent is interested in talking to them makes a child feel secure and it offers them the ability to open up and talk to them.

*Never boss, critize, or judge children:

A parent should never judge their children, preach to them, and direct them to do something they may not want to do or else they'll suffer the consequences, and we should never threaten them for any reason. Parents need to learn to give and take in their relationships with their children. What child wants to hear bossing orders spewing out their parents mouths as soon as they walk into the house? Parents who start at a young childhood age to stop, listen, and not be accusatory to their children will find it lest hard to communicate as their child matures.

*Summation:

Parents should never criticize their children or call them names...this can have an adverse effect on them and they will close down and not tell you a single thing or open up to you about any of their personal problems. Children need to be nourished in a gentle and tender manner because they're not as mature and understanding mentally as an adult. Children requires respect, feelings, tenderness, love, praise, and this will teach them to respect others and treat them in the same manner. Children who receives praise in their lives are taught self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth.            

Learn more about this author, Barbara Kasey Smith.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.