How can parents talk to teens?

Listen to recent graduates Ciro, Sai and Jasper discuss the importance of reaching out to your teen and seeing things from their perspective. Talking to a teenager can sometimes be hard, here are some tips that could help you to get the conversation started.

Transcript

[Introduction music]

Sai: How would you want your parent to talk to you?

Jasper: Talk to us in the sense that you don’t know what we’re going through, but you’ll try and understand it.

Sai: Yeah.   Ciro: Hmm

Sai: You know, being in each other’s shoes, understanding where both sides are coming from

Jasper: Yeah because we get where they come from.

Sai: Yeah. Like, in my opinion, my old man, it took a long time for him to be able to, like, actually talk to us kids and talk to me. When he started to see that, I was sort of um…not be the happy child that I was. He sat me down and he was like, you know what’s going on? Like, you’re not the same. Like you’re quiet. And I…I like had a breakdown, and I, like, you know, cried to him because it’s like, I couldn’t…I could never be able to, like, talk to him like this before. And then he said to me, you know, I don’t ever want to see you like this again. Next time, just talk to me. It hurt him to see me like this, and it hurt him to know that I was going through this without him knowing. If I could give advice to someone, I feel like…Don’t let it get to that point. Because… don’t let it built up just…as soon as you feel yourself going down the wrong path or whatever. Reach out immediately. Voiceover: Having conversations, listening and seeing things from your teen’s perspective can help you and your teen with school, learning and life. For more topics for you, search Spark their Future. Or for your teen, they can visit We the Differents.