There are a series of subtle changes that begin to emerge in your pre-teen, marking the official end of childhood and the advance to the teenage years.
These behaviours generally include an increase in the eye-roll count, less verbal exchange and a whole new vocabulary parents must contend with: bae, whatevs, and YOLO-as-verb.
And when it comes to having the important conversations with your teen about drinking, their strange behaviour can make it tough to get through to them – but don’t let that stop you.
But the good news is, it’s not impossible. Here’s an introduction to the most common teen categories – and how to communicate with them.
The Mute.
“How was school honey?”
“Meh.”
“Did you enjoy soccer training today?”
“Hmph”.
Ok. If this exchange is becoming the dominant communication style with your teen, then welcome to The Mute. The teen Mute is incapable of forming full sentences, which may drain the brain or energies of the teen. (These energy reserves are important for digital communication with friends, duh).
Communication strategy: The best strategy for the teen Mute is to subtly wait for any windows of opportunity, which means the teen has said something to you or in your general direction, and then engage quickly.
The trick here is not to appear too eager, or you will cause an eye-roll. Be on the lookout for spaces and places with fewer distractions, such as the car, kitchen or the laundry, where you’ll be doing things but they won’t.
Top Comments
I have a "Shape Shifter" teen of 17 and s half and yes she had kept us on our toes and almost brought us to our knees. Throughout all the issues and there have been several we have always made sure she knows she's loved and home will always be a safe place. Recently a run in with police after drinking with a friend put us all to the test. She decided the tough stone faced teen was the best way to go. I'm always very emotional and cry whenever there's a stressful event. But this time I too toughed it out and was able to talk rationally and effectively. While still rebellious we have reached an agreement that if she wants to go out of a night we will take her and pick her up any time so we at least feel she is safe I'm not sure what else we can do. I don't want to alienate her and lose her to the streets. She's my baby no matter what. I wasn't a great teen in my day but I never disrespected my parents which is something this generation is being taught to do by TV the media and the lack of discipline in schools these days. Anyway it was nice to see that we're not alone and the shape shifter haunts the homes of others. Blessings upon all of us dealing with a life like that :-)
I have to say, as a teenager myself I usually find these types of blogs and such over dramatic and full of themselves, not to mention full of useless information. I was pleasantly surprised to find that your's however, was actually pretty informative and not insulting in the least; thank you for doing your research and not prattling on about something you don't know anything about.