Ever wonder what your teenager would say to you if he or she weren’t afraid to tell you?
Over the years, here are four messages I’ve gotten from the thousands of adolescents who’ve spoken to me or sent me letters:
“Even though we like loud music we don’t like loud voices. Please don’t yell at us. Not only does yelling hurt our ears it scares us and hurts our feelings.
When we do something wrong, punish us. But please don’t keep punishing us over and over again...by never letting us forget what we did wrong. People can change, ya know!
But it isn’t easy to change when somebody keeps reminding you about how lazy or stupid or dishonest, or unappreciative you are.
We would feel a lot better about ourselves if you took more time to praise the good things we do instead of always criticizing the bad ones. In our hearts we know you love us but please try to show it a little more.
When you have to say “NO” to what we want to do or make rules we don’t like, could you tell us WHY you’re doing it? If you’d give us reasons we’d learn more and maybe remember longer.”
Now that they’ve told us “what’s up” with them, let’s listen.
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