Header AD

Five Things To Talk About With Your Teen And Tween

By Saleem Rana


Jay Fitter MFT, author of Respect Your Children: A Practical Guide to Effective Parenting, spoke to Lon Woodbury, the host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens on L.A. Talk Radio, about the 5 essential issues to discuss with your teen and tween.

Lon Woodbury is an Independent Educational Consultant who has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984. He is the founder of Struggling Teens, Inc., and the publisher of Woodbury Reports.

A Brief Bio On Jay Fritter

Jay Fitter is a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). He has 20 years experience as a family therapist and parenting workshop leader. His book Respect Your Children: A Practical Guide to Effective Parenting outlines how parents can effectively communicate with their children by talking and listening to their answers and by caring for them with love, instead of obligation or resentment.

A Discussion On The 5 Essential Issues To Discuss With Your Teen And Tween

High School was almost a microcosm of society as a whole, explained Jay. Consequently, parents simply could not afford to be oblivious about what was happening with their children, especially since their child's peers could affect career or life choices. One way to stay on track would be to engage children in discussions on their interests in fashion, schoolwork, dating trends, peer groups, and parental rules and expectations. Children, Jay cautioned, could be quite volatile, even reacting to something like cyberbullying or the end of a relationship with suicidal ideation.

Parents should express their concern when they see dangerous clues and talk openly about it with their children. Jay suggested that parents need to learn to listen if they hope to develop good rapport with their children. It was often too late to begin a relationship with their children after a crisis.

Parents, Jay pointed out, need to be patient with their child's changing behavior, show consistent caring, and set clear boundaries. They also need to be able to differentiate between discipline and punishment. Punishment is reactive and merely vents frustrated behavior while discipline is something that has been thought through ahead of time.

Jay concluded the interview by briefly touching on a few more themes: how parents could help their child cope with a relationship breakup, how parents could help their children combat peer pressure, and how parents could communicate clear rules and expectations. His book, Respect Your Children: A Practical Guide to Effective Parenting, covers these ideas in detail.




About the Author:



Post a Comment

Post a Comment (0)

Previous Post Next Post

ads

Post ADS 1

ads

Post ADS 1