Cathy Printon has been an educator for more than 30 years. She has a passion in understanding personal stories and narratives to help students learn and grow authentically. Parents always struggle with having their teen open up and talk about some of the challenges they’re going through. Cathy shares advice on how to sit and really make your teen feel heard and seen, and how you can build a closer relationship with your child through trust and honesty.
- It’s hard to have a meaningful conversation with your teenager. How do you get them to talk?
- It’s so easy to just give advice as an adult who has made it out on the other side, but that’s not what your teen needs. Practice active listening skills and try not to put your parent hat on.
- You don’t have to go into the super hard-hitting stuff, sometimes just asking them who they’re sitting with at lunch is enough.
- What made you laugh today? That gets a teen to really talk and open up.
- What stories do you share and what stories don’t you share?
- It’s important to be honest, but give advice/information based on what’s acceptable for their age.
- You want to give your child both the good and the bad life stories.
- It’s important to make your child feel seen and heard.
- Cathy has created 100 conversation starters to provide parents with additional resources.
Quotes:
“Be ready to listen when they’re ready to talk.”
“If your child is asking you something, they want to know, so decide whether to give them the entire answer or parts of the answer [that’s appropriate for their age].”
“When your children know you’ve struggled and your family has had some struggles, and you’ve worked through it, that builds history and strength of trust within the family.”
