Teen depression, teen suicide, rebellious and ungrateful teens, parents that ‘just don’t get yet’ or understand. We hear these words too often, these are all too common problems, and each side tends to blame the other.
The video you are about to watch should be viewed by both parents and Teens, ideally both at the same time. As a parent, the video took me aback, made me sad, made me angry, and challenged how I communicate with my own kids. It is a very ‘in your face’ video that challenges and provokes thought.
No matter how good a parent we think we are, we should always be looking at improving our relationship and communication with our kids. And if we are lucky parents that have a great relationship with our kids, maybe we can help those that don’t.
Communication, those ‘words’ we use everyday are so important, those ‘words’ can easily be taken for granted, yet many times those ‘words’ can be so misunderstood between parent and child.
As parents we want our children to succeed, but yet, we can push a child away by the words we use. As a teenager, we are wanting more and more independence, but yet, we can easily become confrontational with the words we use when trying to express ourselves. Even though it may have been years since I was a teen, I still remember.
Josh in his video brought back some memories, and made me think about the ‘words’ I use with my own children. As Josh mentioned in his video, when a parent says ‘you have to study’ they really mean that they care about your future, or ‘be home by 11:00′, they really care about your safety.
So what is the solution? I will be honest, each parent, each child, each situation is different. As parents many of us parent as we have been parented. I would be very arrogant to propose one solution that would cover everything, it is much more complicated than that.
However, as parents, and as teens, I would propose we think about the ‘words’ we do use and how we communicate with each other. This video from Josh should be seen by both Parents and Teenagers. In fact, I would recommend both Parent and Child sit down together and watch it, and to start a dialog.
I want to thank Josh at HeyJosh.com for the time and thought that went into this video. Visitors can also receive a free ebook. You can get yours at http://www.heyjosh.com/ask-josh/
Let’s start that conversation today!
Kevin – More4kids
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