Do you ever feel lost in a conversation with your teenager? You know something is off, but you can’t identify it? And you certainly don’t know what to do. Let’s look at an example.
I know a 17-year-old girl, Elyssa, who for years has been a grab bag of trouble: rebellious, difficult at home, snotty attitude, smart mouth, ungrateful, grades dropping, irresponsible. These problems usually result in severe disabilities throughout
adulthood—emotionally, in relationships, in careers, and more—but parents don’t pay attention early.
We parents tend to respond only to emotional car wrecks,
instead of teaching simple principles that prevent the wrecks. Early on, each undesirable behavior seems small, so we justify them and blow them off.
We
say:
Continue to read
