26: Staying Connected When Your Teen Wants You To Go Away

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harriet Turk has spent the last two decades in education and business. In the education sector, Harriet developed and implemented multi-million dollar programs for local and state level educational systems as the Youth Programs Coordinator for the Mississippi Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. In this episode, Harriet shares how to build a deeper connection with your teen, even when it feels like they ‘never talk’! </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Key Takeaways</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The teen years are a very confusing time. They need a parental figure to connect with them. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">How do you listen to your teen when they’re refusing to talk or share about their lives? </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">You can’t set a scheduled time to talk to your teen. You really have to work on their timeline.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">As parents, we want our children to come to where you are. You want them to hang out when you’re cooking, or doing something in the living room, but the best place for connection is by going to their room and where they are. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Look at your child’s rooms, what are they interested in right now? Can you start a dialogue with them about it? </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Harriet has a Spotify family account and she can see what her son is listening to at the time and can connect with him that way. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Instead of asking, ‘why’, ask ‘what makes you feel that way’. It helps open up the dialogue much more effectively. </span></li> <li style="f