IT’S pretty much a rite of passage for parents. Almost overnight your child who used to enjoy cuddles and spending time with you becomes aloof, if not downright prickly.
Don’t take it personally, says psychologist and author Lisa Damour – it’s just what teenagers do as they become increasingly independent. As a psychologist who works with teens and as the mother of teenagers herself, she knows just how challenging the adolescent years can be.
That’s why she wrote her latest book, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers. It’s a guide to help parents understand their teens’ intense and often fraught emotional lives, with advice on how to support them through this critical developmental stage.
This extract focuses on what it means to really listen and how to get your teen to open up.
REALLY LISTENING MATTERS
This may seem obvious, but listening
