Communicating with Your Child

Fewer than half of all sixth graders describe their family communication as positive.  Worse yet, only 22% of high school seniors do. What would your kids say?

Most tweens and teens regretfully report that there are things about which they can’t talk with their parents, either because their parents won’t listen, won’t understand, or will over-react.

But believe it or not, there are parents whose kids who talk to them, and even ask their advice -- including teenagers! This web site is dedicated to the possibility that you could be one of those parents.

Because, let's face it, your ability to parent depends on knowing what’s happening in your child’s life, and being able to influence her. And that derives directly from the depth of communication you share. Deep communication is only possible if you find ways to talk about the hard stuff, so that she feels comfortable sharing with you.

But forget about having the “Big Talk,” whether about sex or anything else. Few subjects worth discussing with your child can be covered in one conversation. A rich family life means you talk about anything and everything, all the time. These discussions go on a little bit at a time, daily, for your child’s entire childhood, evolving as she does.