Welcome back to become a calm mama. I am your
Speaker:host, darling Childress. And today, I'm gonna talk about having
Speaker:better conversations with your teens and tweens.
Speaker:I know that as a parent of teenagers and
Speaker:someone who's worked with middle schoolers and raised middle schoolers
Speaker:and raised high schoolers. I know that You
Speaker:don't want your relationship to be adversarial and
Speaker:to feel really disconnected, but it can happen
Speaker:when you're raising middle schoolers and high schoolers
Speaker:where you end up having conversations that are just about,
Speaker:you know, school chores,
Speaker:grades, how, you know, how their attitude, things like that,
Speaker:all the ways that they're sort of not measuring up. And I said
Speaker:this to a client this week on one of my coaching calls. I said imagine
Speaker:that you have only 17 minutes.
Speaker:available to you to talk with your middle schooler. I
Speaker:was like, how how much time would you wanna spend on
Speaker:the dishwasher? And she was like, none.
Speaker:Right? But yet, we sort of end
Speaker:up nagging our kids and hovering over them and
Speaker:creating a lot of disconnection because we
Speaker:don't have good boundaries. We don't know how to set limits with them. And
Speaker:we end up in this conversation about reminding them
Speaker:and criticizing and complaining about their behavior and their
Speaker:attitude. And it takes up it sucks up all
Speaker:of the literal time that you have to
Speaker:talk with your teen or tween. It's like they only have a certain amount of
Speaker:bandwidth. that they wanna connect with you. And
Speaker:if you spend that time talking
Speaker:about you know, things that they're uninterested in and ways that
Speaker:they aren't measuring up and the ways that they're not, you know, showing up the
Speaker:way you want them to. you're not gonna create more, like,
Speaker:goodwill between you. They're gonna wanna spend less time with you.
Speaker:It's different. Then when they're little, and all they wanna do
Speaker:and I mean, little from, like, 2 to 10 or 2 to 11, where all
Speaker:they wanna do is talk, talk, talk, and be around you all the
Speaker:time. As they get older and they go into middle school
Speaker:and high school, kids do need to spend a lot more time in their
Speaker:rooms. Like, They just do because they have this developmental
Speaker:job of creating their identity. And when they are
Speaker:with you, it is hard for them. to separate and figure out who they are.
Speaker:So one of the reasons that they spend so much time in their room is
Speaker:because they need to be alone. and be with their peers and
Speaker:figure out who they are. So they don't really end up spending a lot of
Speaker:time talking to you. So in the emotionally healthy
Speaker:middle schooler and the emotionally healthy teen class, I actually go through and
Speaker:teach how to set limits and how to follow through on consequences.
Speaker:in so that you don't have to spend so much time reminding, reminding,
Speaker:reminding. And a big part of limits, whether you have
Speaker:a, you know, elementary school, little kid, or middle school or a high
Speaker:schooler is you set up your limit, you let them fail, and then
Speaker:you have a consequence. Right? That's the limit correct model.
Speaker:So with your your teens and tweens, you know, you
Speaker:set your limits and then you let them fail. You don't stand over
Speaker:them reminding reminding reminding. which is cool because
Speaker:it's frustrating and scary because you don't know if they're gonna do it and you
Speaker:don't know how to handle it if they don't do it and all of this
Speaker:stuff. and that's what you learn in the class. But what is amazing is
Speaker:when you set really good limits, you end up
Speaker:having a lot more time for
Speaker:Like, sometimes they call them shoot the shit conversations, but really
Speaker:just casual conversations. So I wanted to talk about
Speaker:the 4 -- types of conversations that you're gonna
Speaker:have with your teen and tween. And then, give you
Speaker:some examples and then, of course, invite you to sign up for the
Speaker:emotionally healthy middle schooler or emotionally healthy teen class.
Speaker:If you're watching this as the, you know, watching this. This is
Speaker:a podcast. If you're listening to this podcast, as it comes out,
Speaker:then, you know, the the date that the classes start is the week
Speaker:September 18 2023. if you're listening to this
Speaker:later, there's always a new class coming so you can just check out on
Speaker:the website, come on the coaching dot com and find out about the class.
Speaker:So I'm not gonna talk about limits and consequences in
Speaker:this episode. I'm gonna talk about the 4 types of conversations.
Speaker:As as I get into it, I want to say that you
Speaker:can adapt these types of conversations with your
Speaker:little ones. With your and I say little ones because I have older kids.
Speaker:Like, a nine year old does not feel like a little one. I know that.
Speaker:But with any any age person, really any age
Speaker:person, we wanna have these types of conversations with. So
Speaker:I love categorizing, as you all know, and so these are the types of cat
Speaker:cat conversations that we have with kids and particularly teens and
Speaker:twins. So the first one is a
Speaker:casual conversation. I'm gonna go back and define these. So you can
Speaker:have a casual conversation. And that is just talking about
Speaker:regular old things. Okay? The second type of conversation
Speaker:is curiosity conversation. This is how I
Speaker:think of teachable moments and,
Speaker:teaching things. I think about we teach them through curiosity.
Speaker:So, you know, a teachable conversation is what you might think
Speaker:of this as like a, you know, that's what I'm calling a curiosity conversation.
Speaker:So we have, so far, casual conversations, curious conversations.
Speaker:Then we have connection conversations. These are a little bit deeper. It's a little
Speaker:bit more about the emotional life of your
Speaker:child. So the connection conversation is,
Speaker:is a type of conversation. And then the last one is a correction
Speaker:conversation, and that is when your kid doesn't keep the limit. You need
Speaker:to follow through with a a consequence, a correction
Speaker:where you know, you have a short and sweet conversation about the
Speaker:consequence. Now I'm gonna give you an
Speaker:overview and some examples of each of these. I'm not gonna deep dive in each
Speaker:because each one could probably be its own podcast episode, but
Speaker:I wanted to help you kind of grow
Speaker:your awareness around how to talk to your teen or
Speaker:tween or even talk to your kid. Like, how to
Speaker:have better quality conversations with them.
Speaker:I think that over time, I've really perfected this with my kids and really learned
Speaker:how to
Speaker:pull out all the nitty gritty from them, like, all the goo and
Speaker:all the conversations and all the things. and and it really is sort of
Speaker:this art of conversation. that I wanna help you
Speaker:with. And you can use it at any age, but, of course, I'm been thinking
Speaker:about middle schoolers and high schoolers because that class is coming up. So that's why
Speaker:I wanted to talk about it today. Alright. So
Speaker:casual conversation. Okay. Like I said, I think of these as, like, a
Speaker:shoot the shit conversation, and we
Speaker:need to be able to have time and
Speaker:energy and capacity in a relationship to just
Speaker:have regular con the conversations. So a
Speaker:casual conversation is just about things
Speaker:that your kid is interested in. Like,
Speaker:I don't know who they are, what they're what what's on their
Speaker:mind. And it's not like Oh, I'm
Speaker:gonna teach you about sex. So I'm gonna find out everything you know about sex.
Speaker:Right? That would be a curiosity conversation, which I'll talk about in a minute.
Speaker:This is literally just like, hi.
Speaker:What's on your mind? Who are you? Like, we're just gonna have a casual
Speaker:shoot the shit conversation. So in in a
Speaker:casual conversation, I want you to have absolutely no
Speaker:expectations. You cannot have a hidden agenda. If they start to sniff out
Speaker:that you're, like, about to teach them about something, they're gonna clam up
Speaker:immediately. So little kids tend to not do this as much.
Speaker:they don't tend to clam up as much. They tend to stay,
Speaker:like, they want they wanna keep talking. Right? So, like, they and they also aren't
Speaker:all about nuance. They can't really tell that you're, like, sneakily gonna also teach
Speaker:them something, but a teen or a tween 100%
Speaker:can. So You have you can't have
Speaker:any agenda. And then I like to also give
Speaker:you the premise of, like, imagine having
Speaker:a conversation with a friend. Like, just, you know, when you
Speaker:guys just talk on the phone and you're like, hey. You know, how's how are
Speaker:things going on? Like, what are you guys doing this summer, or how was summer,
Speaker:or did you see this movie or whatever? Like, what questions would
Speaker:you ask? And how would you respond? If you asked your friend a
Speaker:question and they seemed uninterested, Would you keep talking
Speaker:about it? Like, no. Right? If they stayed, if
Speaker:they were, like, indifferent or you kinda read the energy, then you would just kind
Speaker:of adapt to that conversation. And a lot of times with
Speaker:kids, we sort of bulldoze our way through. We're not a
Speaker:We're not attuned, what we call attuned. We're not connected and
Speaker:really looking for the the dance in that relationship
Speaker:and in that station. And you do have the skill to do this. You do
Speaker:this all the time with your friends. So I'm not saying, oh, go be
Speaker:friends with your kids, but bring in that casual,
Speaker:you know, hangout feel with your friends. Bring that with your
Speaker:kids. So here are some conversation starters
Speaker:that I like,
Speaker:especially with with kids who are in middle school and high school.
Speaker:Like, what are your favorite TikToks or memes? Like, when you're
Speaker:on TikTok, what do you look at, or when you're, you know, snap chatting with
Speaker:your friends? Like, what do you guys send each other? That is such an opening
Speaker:to a conversation that is really interesting.
Speaker:another one is, like, is there anything you've been wanting to buy? Forget?
Speaker:Like, your kids are over there, like, online shopping or looking up stuff or
Speaker:they're thinking about things. You know, you can ask them. Hey.
Speaker:I've is there anything, like, you've been curious about getting, like, for your room or,
Speaker:like, new new clothes or shoes or whatever?
Speaker:I don't wanna advocate advocate consumerism, but
Speaker:people oftentimes have things that are on their mind. Like, oh, yeah. I was thinking
Speaker:about getting like, a new, you know, a new desk lamp or
Speaker:something, like, whatever's on their mind. Another
Speaker:conversation starter, can you play me the song that you've been on having on
Speaker:replay repeat lately? Which is like, what are you gonna listening to? What
Speaker:kind of music have you been going listening to? You can ask
Speaker:them, like, if you could go out to eat and get any type of food,
Speaker:like, what would you get right now? It doesn't mean you're going out to eat,
Speaker:but I'm just curious. Like, What would you get for dinner tonight if you could
Speaker:pick anything? What type of food is your favorite? Or oh,
Speaker:the dog did something super funny. I wanna show you, or did you hear what
Speaker:happened in the news? or I'm obsessed with this new,
Speaker:you know, this new app or this new thing. Like, have you
Speaker:heard of it? You can talk about, like, hey. I've been
Speaker:thinking about, you know, winter break. I was wondering, like, what are your thoughts about
Speaker:it? You know, is there any place you wanna go, especially as they get older?
Speaker:They might have thoughts and and ideas. what kind
Speaker:of YouTube videos have you been watching? You'd be like, I need some ideas. I
Speaker:don't know what to What to do? I just listened to this,
Speaker:this podcast episode with Kristen Bell, the actress. And she
Speaker:said, she turns to her husband often, and she's like, what should I Google?
Speaker:so, you know, kind of being like, I don't know. What what should I look
Speaker:up on YouTube? What do you guys do? What are you looking up? Right? I
Speaker:need some ideas. Or, You
Speaker:know, I'm going with my friend, like, to do this this weekend.
Speaker:Like, what do you have planned? Especially as they get into teenagers and they really
Speaker:have their own plans. Thinking about seeing this movie. Would you
Speaker:wanna see it? Do you wanna make cookies with me? Do you wanna go for
Speaker:a walk with me? And we just have no expectations.
Speaker:No agenda. We're just adding them to a conversation, we're
Speaker:truly just casual. Right? Keep
Speaker:trying. Don't give up when they brush you off. Don't
Speaker:make it mean anything. Just, you know,
Speaker:be like a human being with your kids. That's what I'm offering.
Speaker:The next type of conversation is a curiosity conversation.
Speaker:I love curiosity conversations. These also
Speaker:have to be agendas. Like, You know,
Speaker:you can't come at it like, oh, I'm gonna have a whole big old
Speaker:conversation and teach them about sex right now. I'm gonna have a big conversation and
Speaker:teach them about fentanyl or drugs or, you
Speaker:know, positive self self esteem or something like
Speaker:that. You can't come at these conversations from,
Speaker:like, you know, I'm going to teach you
Speaker:something. But this is a really good way to
Speaker:find out what your team knows. what your
Speaker:teen or tween is thinking about. They're,
Speaker:you know, how they how what they understand. I remember
Speaker:The first time a curiosity conversation came to me was actually when Lincoln was
Speaker:around 7 or 8. And he said to me, oh, I know where
Speaker:babies come from. And I was like, oh, you
Speaker:do? Tell me. And he said, yeah. They
Speaker:come from a virus. And I was like, oh, a
Speaker:virus. And I started to think, like, what does he
Speaker:mean by that? And then I said to him, do you mean a fetus
Speaker:And he was like, yeah. And it made me
Speaker:realize that, like, there's things that he has in his head
Speaker:that I don't know are in there. And I wanna get a
Speaker:little curious to try to coax those out. Right?
Speaker:So instead of coming at any of these
Speaker:these conversations from I'm gonna teach you something. I
Speaker:want you to really more think about, like, Where are they? What
Speaker:are they already thinking about? What do they already know?
Speaker:How to get into into the mode of curiosity is really kind
Speaker:of activating, like, how you felt when they were really
Speaker:little and they were learning to walk and talk and eat and
Speaker:play and, like, pass all those early milestones and, like, remembering
Speaker:how you could watch them for hours. So you're teen is
Speaker:actually going through some big developmental milestones in your tween as
Speaker:well. And but the difference is these changes, they're internal.
Speaker:So we wanna be curious as curious as we were in the when they were
Speaker:doing those milestones when they were little. Wanna be as curious about them
Speaker:now. Right? What are they learning and thinking and doing and planning?
Speaker:Your teen and your twin, they actually do want to talk
Speaker:about the thoughts in their head. with a trusted adult. They want
Speaker:to be able to express their thoughts and work through emotions and try
Speaker:on new ideas. They just don't wanna be told
Speaker:what to think or feel. They wanna show you what they are thinking and
Speaker:feeling. So a lot of times teens and tweens, they'll
Speaker:actually start these conversations. There was something
Speaker:that's on their mind. And that's the best scenario. So be
Speaker:looking for cues, like, when they when they
Speaker:start saying, like, oh, you know, have you ever heard of
Speaker:this? Like, You know, I remember one
Speaker:time I was driving with Sawyer
Speaker:and I was driving. And I said to him, He we saw these fancy
Speaker:cars and I he he was like, I would never spend money on a fancy
Speaker:car. And I was like, oh, really? What would you spend money
Speaker:on? If you wouldn't buy a fancy car, like, what would be worth it to
Speaker:you? And he goes, Grylls from my teeth?
Speaker:I nearly lost my mind. I was like, woah. Wow.
Speaker:That's interesting that that's on your mind. Grills.
Speaker:Like, never in a 100 years would I have thought that that was something in
Speaker:his head. So I love being curious and
Speaker:asking questions instead of just talking, talking,
Speaker:talking. Just parents spend so much time talking. and very little
Speaker:time listening. So let me give you a
Speaker:caveat real quick is that sometimes
Speaker:the conversations that your kids bring up might be really boring for you.
Speaker:Like, I am sort of, like, really uninterested in the
Speaker:protein density of beef bone broth versus pea
Speaker:protein. Okay. Like, that's a topic my kid is really interested
Speaker:in. Just like when they were little, they were really in BayBlades
Speaker:and Linde and Jago and, you know, whatever. And even
Speaker:earlier, Thomas and all the characters in cars movie,
Speaker:And we need to show interest because we wanna
Speaker:be curious about our humans. And so, yeah, they might be boring, and you can
Speaker:put some boundaries if you get bored. But in general, being
Speaker:open to these kinds of conversations will help
Speaker:build more connection between you and build more warmth and
Speaker:more all the things you want when they're older,
Speaker:this is how you get it. This is how you get a kid who wants
Speaker:to call you and talk to you about stuff. because you've established a
Speaker:relationship where they can, where they can talk to you about what's on their
Speaker:mind. Now sometimes they might bring stuff up on their
Speaker:mind that is, like, Wow. You think that, like,
Speaker:especially I'm raising boys, men, and
Speaker:sometimes they have opinions about chivalry
Speaker:or you know, women, and it can be
Speaker:a little alarming, or that, you know, they say extreme
Speaker:things. It's really important to sort of stay
Speaker:in the place of like, oh, they're exploring an idea. They're
Speaker:thinking about something. This is not a
Speaker:fixed mindset because they're young. They're
Speaker:still growing and maturing and developing and creating an identity.
Speaker:So they try on different ideas. And they they
Speaker:try them out on you. And so, yes, you wanna be honest
Speaker:about how You're what, you know, what you're thinking,
Speaker:but you don't need to get alarmed. So I'm just warning you that some
Speaker:of these conversations are boring, and some of them are alarming.
Speaker:Now if your kid is really kinda like saying something that's really getting under
Speaker:your skin, you can't stay calm and be curious. You
Speaker:can say, I love talking about things with
Speaker:you, but I'm not open to this conversation right now.
Speaker:And you can just stop. But we wanna say it in a polite way. We
Speaker:wanna set a boundary that's, like, loving and firm.
Speaker:So other conversation starters or, Our
Speaker:like, one of my favorites is to say,
Speaker:you know, my like, when I was in middle school, kids used to
Speaker:do this. Do they still do that? It doesn't even have to
Speaker:be a true thing that you actually ever did in middle school, but you're kind
Speaker:of like digging in a little bit to find out
Speaker:what kids are doing and what they're thinking. Like, when I was in
Speaker:middle school, kids used to smoke in the in the parking lot.
Speaker:Do they still smoke? Do middle school or smoke? Have you ever seen anybody
Speaker:vaping at school? I'm just curious. Right? So we're just, like,
Speaker:getting curious or, you know, in high school,
Speaker:like, Do do people have, like,
Speaker:serious relationships in high school? What do you think about that? You know, are
Speaker:people having sex? Do you know anybody who's having sex?
Speaker:just say it. Right? It's a it's like, you'll you'll get a
Speaker:lot of information. If you get curious.
Speaker:Sometimes I'll say like, oh, I read this article about
Speaker:about vaping. And I was just wondering, like, what are your thoughts about it? Like,
Speaker:what do you think about vaping? So I'll pick, like, a hot button topic that
Speaker:maybe I do wanna kind of, you
Speaker:know, find out where they stand on it. Like, You know,
Speaker:what do you think? Do you think you should be, like, the the, you know,
Speaker:marijuana should still be illegal or not? Like,
Speaker:you can just Get curious. You ask these open ended questions,
Speaker:but don't come from an agenda. I
Speaker:like, the phrase, like, I heard that at another school,
Speaker:like, another middle school, kids are doing this. Like, do they do that at
Speaker:your school? Or, you know, I heard that at the high school,
Speaker:they're doing this. Do they do that in a middle school? Yeah. You're
Speaker:just asking these conversation starters, these open questions.
Speaker:I love playing dumb. Like, I don't know
Speaker:anything about, like, you
Speaker:know, Google chats, like, how people talk to
Speaker:each other. Can you tell me about it, especially if I've heard that,
Speaker:you know, Kids are being solicited or if
Speaker:you're worried about predators or, you know, like online predators
Speaker:or you heard something that your friend told you about.
Speaker:grooming, you know, online grooming.
Speaker:It's like, you know what? I I've I've heard that, like, sometimes
Speaker:people show up in, like, snap chats and you can't tell how old they
Speaker:are. Is that true? What are your thoughts about
Speaker:that? How do you know if somebody is a is a real person in a
Speaker:chat or, like, a fake person because I saw this article about,
Speaker:somebody who thought they were talking to someone who's fifteen, but it turned out they
Speaker:were, like, 45, like, so old.
Speaker:So you're playing a little bit of d dumb. You're bringing in examples,
Speaker:and you're just kind of asking them questions, and that is to get
Speaker:curious. And Let them tell you what they know. Let
Speaker:them tell you what they think. And then leave it.
Speaker:Don't you don't take the bait. Don't start lecturing. Just kind of
Speaker:Take it as information, and then it can help you figure out
Speaker:if you need more screen time limits. Do you need to Talk to them
Speaker:about online safety? Do you need to have other types of
Speaker:conversations? so get the facts through curiosity.
Speaker:Connection is another type of conversation, and this is a little bit
Speaker:deeper. So if you notice there's, like, you have the
Speaker:casual ones that just, like, on the office. We're not getting too
Speaker:deep. We're just trying to, like, connect with them about, like, regular
Speaker:stuff. Then you have curiosity. Maybe it's a little bit more about, like,
Speaker:hot button issues or hot topic issues. And then we
Speaker:have connection conversations, and this is yet another level because
Speaker:it's acts actually connecting to a little more vulnerability within
Speaker:your child. So your teen or your
Speaker:tween They desperately want to
Speaker:feel safe with their parents. They wanna feel
Speaker:seen by you, and they wanna feel soothed
Speaker:and secure, but they don't want you to know that.
Speaker:They don't like the vulnerability of
Speaker:being a kid still. They really
Speaker:wanna act older and show up differently and be mature and
Speaker:sort of, quote unquote, not need their parents. That's part of their
Speaker:separation. But as a as a species, we're not supposed to be
Speaker:completely independent. We're we're supposed to be interdependent. We're supposed to be
Speaker:connected and support each other emotionally.
Speaker:And, you know, in in another ways. So
Speaker:Your your team, they do want to have these conversations with you,
Speaker:but they don't it's very difficult for them because they can feel really vulnerable.
Speaker:when they're having them, when they're talking about hard things, like a
Speaker:a kid they like that doesn't like them back or a teacher that's really
Speaker:mean. or a struggle they're having in school or a conflict they're
Speaker:having with their other parent or, you know, an insecurity
Speaker:about their body image. These are things that are on their
Speaker:mind. These are these are emotions that are coming up and really negative thoughts
Speaker:that they have, and they don't know what to do with them.
Speaker:And so we wanna give them the opportunity that
Speaker:to to share that stuff with us. But
Speaker:in They'll only do it when they're feeling really, really safe.
Speaker:So how do, like, start a conversation, a connection
Speaker:conversation? Is you know, say your
Speaker:teen is, you know, looking like they've had a hard day.
Speaker:Something you you can see based on their their behavior or they're
Speaker:shutting you out or, you know, they're grumpy or something like that,
Speaker:or they're quiet, they're reserved. Right? You can come in and
Speaker:say, I noticed you're kinda quiet today. I wonder if there's something on
Speaker:your mind. Or
Speaker:you're complaining quite a bit today. Are you feeling fresh about something?
Speaker:So notice that these are really direct questions. They're not
Speaker:assumptions. Like, oh, I know you're mad. I can tell.
Speaker:or jeez. Hard day. there's no
Speaker:snark in it. There's no kind of passive aggressive observation.
Speaker:There's no assumption. It's not and and and the questions aren't vague. Like, what's
Speaker:going on with you? It's really direct. Like,
Speaker:I noticed you're kinda quiet. I wonder if you if there's something on your mind
Speaker:or, you know, you're complaining a lot. Are you feeling frustrated? Is there
Speaker:more to this than just you know, annoyance.
Speaker:Now if your kid starts to open up to you, great.
Speaker:Right? It's if not, that's also great. You
Speaker:don't need to get a conversation here in
Speaker:order for this to quote, unquote work. All you're doing in
Speaker:this conversation is creating, like,
Speaker:a bridge. Like, hey. I'm right here. If you
Speaker:I'm here. I can hold this space for you. I can listen.
Speaker:Now if you haven't had a relationship with your kid where you where they
Speaker:do feel like they can talk to you about things without being judged or criticized,
Speaker:are you freaking out or you making it about you, then they're not
Speaker:gonna connect with you. And that that means you need to do repair
Speaker:and, It doesn't necessarily mean you need to redo repair, but if
Speaker:you have had a history with your kids that is, like,
Speaker:somewhat, or you know that you
Speaker:created some disconnection between you and your child over the years,
Speaker:and they don't you don't feel close. Like, they don't feel safe with you, then,
Speaker:it would probably be good for you to sign up for the class, and we
Speaker:can talk about that and talk about how to do repair. But
Speaker:for the most part, If your team connects, great. If they
Speaker:don't, great. We're just communicating. We are
Speaker:here. So sometimes you have to be, you
Speaker:know, a little stealth with the connection, right, because when you're kid,
Speaker:if you're, like, saying, like, oh, or something on your mind,
Speaker:It is as if you have stripped them naked and they're standing
Speaker:in front of their whole school showing their entire body. Like, that's
Speaker:how vulnerable they feel if they've been caught
Speaker:with an emotion. They don't want anyone
Speaker:to to see them as struggling because they think that's being babyish.
Speaker:They don't want their parent to, like, help them because they don't wanna be
Speaker:seen as, like, a baby. They they but they want to
Speaker:be soothed. They just don't wanna want it. So
Speaker:they when they receive your empathy, They
Speaker:might reject it in order to protect their self-concept.
Speaker:So it's it's kinda hard to tell. Like, are they not talking to me because
Speaker:of their own issues or they could not talking to me because of our
Speaker:relationship? Like, is it did I create this disconnection?
Speaker:So if if you want help with that, like, join the class or just sign
Speaker:up for a consult, and I'll help you kind of figure out what happened in
Speaker:your history, and then we can help figure out where your routine or your tween
Speaker:is right now. So your
Speaker:teens acceptance or their rejection of
Speaker:your connection. It has very little to do with you. It has a
Speaker:lot to do with how much vulnerability they can tolerate in that
Speaker:moment. So sometimes I teach that we can
Speaker:have connection conversations that are silent.
Speaker:I call it quiet compassion. So
Speaker:compassion is really seeing the world from someone else's lens and
Speaker:then connecting with the emotion that they might be feeling. That's the
Speaker:whole connection tool. Right? So when your team, like, they
Speaker:gets they get cut from the team or a relationship ends or they
Speaker:don't pass the permit test or they has a they have a huge zit. or
Speaker:they get a low grade or they don't get invited to something.
Speaker:They are suffering, and they want someone to
Speaker:see them but they also want it to be a little bit private.
Speaker:So they want you to know that they're hurting, but they don't necessarily want you
Speaker:to say. I see your hurting. So they want you
Speaker:to recognize and acknowledge their suffering without saying it out
Speaker:loud. It sometimes they cannot handle
Speaker:the words, but they do want your eyeballs on them. They
Speaker:do wanna feel like you're paying attention. So just
Speaker:narrating the situation and the naming the emotions in your
Speaker:mind, it allows this softening between you and
Speaker:your teen or tween. it sounds
Speaker:crazy, but it is actually true that when you
Speaker:move into a compassionate place with another person.
Speaker:They then feel that connection with you, and they feel that
Speaker:safety. because they can tell that you're no longer judging them
Speaker:even if you don't say anything. Isn't that cool?
Speaker:So those those are the 3 main conversations I wanted to talk about today. The
Speaker:the casual conversation, the shoot the shit type of conversation,
Speaker:the curiosity conversation, like, kinda, like, you know,
Speaker:stealthily asking them, like, what they know a topic, like a hot
Speaker:button topic, kinda coming around from the backside of it.
Speaker:And then a connection conversation really creating space for
Speaker:them to talk about, their feelings. Now the
Speaker:more casual conversations you have and the more
Speaker:curiosity conversations you have, the more
Speaker:connection conversations you will create.
Speaker:So they do build upon each other. We have to be able to just be
Speaker:casual. You don't go right to, like, you know, a
Speaker:person that you haven't felt safe or you felt judged by and, you know, feels
Speaker:like they're always criticizing you. You don't go right in and show your
Speaker:vulnerability to them. Like, nobody does that. So your teenager's
Speaker:not gonna do that, but they will over time if you develop a
Speaker:rapport. And that is really what we learn in
Speaker:the the 2 classes, the middle school and the high school class. And I've separated
Speaker:those classes purely because the topics are
Speaker:very different. Like, we don't talk about, you know,
Speaker:sex, like, having sex with another partner.
Speaker:in the middle school class because it's really heavy, and most of you won't be
Speaker:there yet. but, you know, we might talk about vaping in
Speaker:both, but we probably wouldn't talk about, like, drugs in the middle school
Speaker:class. So the the different the conversations are different, and I don't
Speaker:I want to be able to let everybody feel really safe to talk about hard
Speaker:things. Mhmm. But in essentially, the topics are the same.
Speaker:We're talking about what's normal at this age, what is developmental,
Speaker:and how can you Support your kid during this time, and then how
Speaker:do you set limits and boundaries? What do they look like as they get
Speaker:older? So that's what we're talking about. And the
Speaker:last type of conversation is a correction conversation, and it really
Speaker:is how do you handle it when your
Speaker:teen messes up or when your twin messes up
Speaker:because they are going to. And so what do you do and how
Speaker:do you tell them without breaking your relationship. And and that's
Speaker:a that's a skill, and that's a major part of
Speaker:the of the class. So I'm not gonna go into correction conversations right now. But,
Speaker:essentially, a con correction conversations are when
Speaker:you need to, pull back some freedom from your
Speaker:teen or from your tween. and give them more responsibility or
Speaker:build up trust with them. So when you have a
Speaker:conversation, when they have, you know, blown it, Our tendency is to go
Speaker:into a big lecture mode and have a big huge conversation with them and,
Speaker:like, lay it all out and make sure they understand how serious it is.
Speaker:And the truth is that's not gonna help. Like, lecturing,
Speaker:explaining, none of that is important because as soon as you tell your
Speaker:child or your teen, or between that they're gonna lose a privilege,
Speaker:that's all they're focused on. They're not listening to you anymore. So whenever
Speaker:you have a consequence, You're gonna just tell them the consequence, and then you're gonna
Speaker:let them have a big feeling cycle, and that's it. And then if they want
Speaker:more explanation, you can do it once everybody is
Speaker:calm. So if they act really upset
Speaker:when you're trying to give them a consequence, you can say, hey. I see you're
Speaker:real upset. I don't want this conversation to become too confrontational.
Speaker:Let's talk again in a bit. Let's take a break.
Speaker:Right? So I I kinda go through and how teach you how to have those
Speaker:conversations with your teens and your tweens and your
Speaker:middle schoolers. So these these conversations, like I
Speaker:said, are I I focused on middle and,
Speaker:and high school high schoolers, but The truth is I
Speaker:I always want you to be cat you know, talking talking about stuff with your
Speaker:little ones and your middle schoolers and your l I'm sorry, in your elementary schoolers.
Speaker:I want you to be you know, getting to know them and being curious and
Speaker:asking them questions. And I saw, you know, some some
Speaker:I saw some kids Run away from the teacher today. Like, what do you think
Speaker:about that? Whatever kind of thing you wanna teach them,
Speaker:I want you to learn how to ask them about it first. ask them what
Speaker:they think about it first. So that's the invitation. And then
Speaker:the connection is basically the connection tool. As they get
Speaker:bigger and older, it just looks slightly different. So the connection
Speaker:tool is always hey. I see this behavior. I
Speaker:wonder if you're feeling blank. That's it. That's how
Speaker:compassion works. Alright. I
Speaker:I love I love talking about how to
Speaker:help parents of middle schoolers and high
Speaker:school high schoolers. And I'm really excited about
Speaker:these classes. I haven't taught a middle school only class before. This
Speaker:is a new one. the team class, I just taught teens,
Speaker:in the spring, and that was so great with such a wonderful group. And
Speaker:they've all stayed together in the team support group because you
Speaker:You sign up for the class and then you get to go to the support
Speaker:group for 6 more months. So the class is 6 weeks, but then we stay
Speaker:together for 6 months afterwards. and you continue to get support
Speaker:and build that community and be able to talk to me. and that's just
Speaker:open open support group. So it's really great. It's
Speaker:$397. So it's, like, around $400. So you get the 6
Speaker:week class. You get the 6 months of support. get a
Speaker:whole workbook. You get access to the replays. The classes are
Speaker:gonna be held. The middle school class is gonna be held on Tuesdays starting
Speaker:September 19th. at 11:30 AM Pacific
Speaker:time. So 2:30 Eastern, and that will run 6
Speaker:weeks. And then the high school class is gonna meet on Wednesdays at 11:30.
Speaker:Same time or, 11:30 AM pacific or
Speaker:2:30 PM Eastern. And they run about an
Speaker:hour, hour and 15. So you can hopefully, you know,
Speaker:participate and and be there live. And then, of course, if you miss it,
Speaker:there's a replay. And then there's a full handout, a handbook that goes
Speaker:with each class. So it's really cool. I love it. I won't
Speaker:be offering the classes again until the spring.
Speaker:because I'm gonna do the emotionally healthy mama class in January, which
Speaker:is gonna be amazing. So I'm gonna teach these classes
Speaker:again probably end of February, beginning of March. So if you're
Speaker:interested in helping your middle schooler or high schooler, I strongly recommend
Speaker:you sign up now. And you can do that at my website,
Speaker:commamacoching.com. We'll link it in the show notes.
Speaker:And, Yeah. Join us. It's not a very big
Speaker:group. Neither of the groups are gonna be very big. I think max ten people.
Speaker:So it'll feel really intimate and you know, you'll have an opportunity
Speaker:to ask me questions and things like that. Alright.
Speaker:Took enough. Talked enough. I Hope you have
Speaker:some beautiful conversations with your kids this week.
Speaker:trying out those casual ones, trying out the you
Speaker:know, curiosity conversations. And if you want all the
Speaker:scripts and all of that, you have to sign up for the class because we
Speaker:have that all those scripts and all those conversation starters are in the
Speaker:workbook. Alright. Mamas, I hope you have
Speaker:a wonderful week, and I will talk to you next