Parent Teen Matters

Be aware of the way you speak to your teenager. Convey respect in your words even if, at times, this is difficult. Your delivery – a combination of breath, tone and body language – must correspond to the words or the meaning is lost. Observe yourself and how you speak. Take a breath, count to 10 and think carefully about what you want to say and how you will say it.

Your teenager will respond well to being spoken to in a respectful, adult manner. In turn, this will act as a cue as to how they should speak to you. If you strive to set a mature conversational tone with your teen, they will adopt this and in time, take to speaking to you like this every time they need to discuss something.