If you want to know how to talk to your teenage daughter you are in the right place! Keep reading for 5 great tips you can use today!
Eye rolls, grunts, slammed doors, and emotional breakdowns you don’t understand. You want to have a good relationship with your teenage daughter, but you’re just not on the same page. What happened to the sweet little girl who once played in your makeup and idolized everything you did? Well, she grew up.
Right around adolescence the relationship between mothers and daughters often becomes strained and in some cases goes downhill from there. But it doesn’t have to.
There are five strategies you can use to foster better communication to strengthen your relationship with your teen.
5 Strategies That Help You Talk To Your Teenage Daughter
1. Pick The Right Time
After school is the absolute worst time to talk to your teenager about anything-especially if you ask the all-time Mom Favorite “How was school today?”.
Think of school as your teenager’s job. She’s tired, and when she gets home, the last thing she wants to do is answer a million questions. Or one. All she wants to do is kick back, eat a snack and relax.
2. Be An Expert Listener
Listening to our teens is not about what we have to say next. And it’s not about finding an opportunity to teach a life lesson. Moms love a good life lesson, don’t we? It’s like we’ve got to make sure we’ve got ’em all in there now because our babies are about to be adults.
You see, when we interrupt our teenagers, no matter what we say, the message they get is: Mom doesn’t respect my thoughts and words.
When you think somebody doesn’t care about what you have to say-you stop talking to them.
3. Validate Her Emotions
The absolute worst thing you can do to a teenage girl is to tell her that her emotions aren’t valid.
The idea here is to teach her that feelings are ok-as long as she can handle those feelings appropriately.
Saying Get Over It, Calm Down, or Stop Acting So Dramatic are sure-fire ways to cut off communication.
I want you to think about it this way; has anyone ever told you to “Calm Down”? Has it ever worked?
Has it ever in the history of mankind worked?
4. Show Interest
Show genuine interest in her life rather than an interrogation.
If you show interest in something your teenager likes then you are opening a door for more conversation.
Let her show you how SnapChat works or how to update your Facebook profile picture from 2007.
Please let her update your profile picture.
On the other hand, dissing the current trends, saying Instagram is stupid or contouring makeup is a waste is only widening the gap in your relationship. I’m not saying you have to contour-I’m just advising you not to tell her it’s dumb.
5. Give Her A Standing Ovation
Finally, teenagers need praise.
Teenagers need recognition just as much if not more than little children.
The truth is they need to know they have your approval, love, and support even when they are acting like they don’t need you. Especially when they are acting like they don’t need you.
Praise your teenager and your relationship and communication will improve.
Strengthening your relationship with your teenager will take time. By listening respectfully, taking a genuine interest in her passions, validating emotions, timing conversations, and praising her you are setting the stage for better communication and a healthy lifelong relationship with your child!
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