One topic that we can’t seem to stop talking about these days is adolescent relationships: with our patients, with our friends who are parents, and at home with our own teens and pre-teens. As a parent, it can be difficult to figure out when to step in, when to step back, and when to step alongside our adolescents as they navigate social dynamics. Recent situations such as the pandemic and the increased reliance on technology for social communication have made connection and interaction even more complicated. In today’s episode, we touch on some strategies that we have found helpful as we make our way through this terrain.  

Do Try This at Home:

• Check out the book, The Power of Validation by Karyn Hall and Melissa Cook for practical tips and great advice on how to offer your kids validation. 
• Another great resource is How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims which covers strategies to appropriately step back and step alongside children throughout their development.
• As parents, it is really important to ask ourselves how we can slow it down, take a step back, ask a lot of questions, let go of our own desire to fix, control, and manage the situation, and work towards becoming more of a consultant to our kids in certain areas.