My teenager is giving me the silent treatment
The dreaded silent treatment… It’s frustrating, even infuriating, when your teen refuses to talk to you. Whether it’s a temporary power move or your teen choosing to go no-contact, disconnection from your child can feel like cutting your heart out and putting it through a blender. Your feelings are real and valid. You’re allowed to […]
My Teen is Hurting and I Don’t Know How to Help
“You better not do that or your mother is going to be very upset!” “If your dad comes home and finds out what you did, he’s going to give you a spanking!” “If you were more repsectful, your grandparents wouldn’t have had to send you back home.” If these sound familiar, you were likely raised […]
3 Ways To Build Influence With Your Teen
Why won’t your teen listen to you? They’re walking down a scary path and as a parent you have the perspective to see it’s not going to end well. You’ve tried talked to them and sending them the research to back up your points but it’s all falling on deaf ears. Not only that, but […]
My Teenager Won’t Stop Lying
Your teenager keeps lying, and no matter what discipline or consequences you try, they refuse to fess up. After everything you’ve done for your teen—everything you’ve sacrificed—this is how they treat you? Here’s some insight and strategies to help you approach this very hurtful and difficult situation in a way that strengthens your relationship rather […]
Teenagers and Free Time
You watch them laying in their rooms, playing video games, or watching TV, yet when it comes to chores and homework, they swear they didn’t have time. As a parent coach, I regularly hear from parents who are frustrated with how their teenager spends (or doesn’t), their free time. Your blood starts to boil and […]
How To Motivate Your Teen
Learning how to motivate a teenager requires understanding how motivation develops and how the teen brain operates… Motivation Is An Inside Job One of the most important lessons a parent can learn is you cannot externally motivate your teenager. Not only will your efforts create more resentment and disappointment, it’ll leave your teen ill-equipped for […]
4 Tips to Lower Anxiety
Your teen is trying yet they’re already feeling anxious, and your stress level is rising remembering how hard last year was, and maybe the year before too. The arguing, yelling, nagging, reminding – trying to understand why your teen isn’t completing their homework, handing in assignments, or refusing to attend classes. Is it really that […]
My Teen is Out of Control
You’ve tried everything, yet it feels like your teenager is spiraling out of control. You have no idea what your next move is, and you’re scared. In my decades as a parent coach and relationship expert, I’ve heard this countless times from mental health to substance use, school refusal and more. Below are three stories […]
12 Tips for Back to School Success
The stress, anxiety and overwhelm teens experience from struggling to understand the content, feeling terrified of, or hating a teacher, the social anxiety and managing relationships, and the weight of expectations to perform and achieve to feel like enough or valuable is too much. So why bother? For parents it’s the nagging to wake your […]
How To Build Trust With Your Teenage
Did you grow up hearing, “trust is earned”? How about “trust is a two-way street”? On the surface, these statements seem pretty harmless, right? Yet, if you drill down a bit, these phrases contradict one another. Telling your teenager they need to “earn” your trust before they can receive yours in return, sounds like a […]