Having two teens of my own I have learned a few things about communicating with them. Each of knows how important it is to have communication with your teen. I would like to share these few steps with you to lead you to better communication with your teens.

1. Always, Always, Always, have an open line of communication with your teen. This is one of the most important steps. If your teen knows that they can come to you and talk to you knowing that you will listen at any time will keep that teen coming back over and over. It will also keep you the parent on top of your teen’s life.

2. Make sure that your teen knows that you will hear them out. Don’t stop them right in the middle and cut them off. It makes us as parents mad when teens do it to us so please don’t do it to them. A teen wants parents that are going to listen to everything that they have to say to the end. Then give the teen your opinion, advice, or input on the matter.

3. Always be open-minded when it comes to communication. Remember you were a teen once too. If your teen is coming to you in the first place they must value your opinion and feel that they won’t regret coming to you. So always try and put yourself in their shoes before you offer your advice.

4. Try not to lecture your teen when they have made a point to come to you. No teen wants to come to their parents about something and end up in a two hour lecture. And if you do lecture them your teen might not come back next time. I’m not saying to tell your teen what they want to hear. I am simply saying give them your honest opinion good or bad. Say it once and drop it. Your teen will know how you feel about the matter and usually takes it to heart when making their final decision.

5. Let your teen know that when they do come to you that you enjoy talking with them or that it really makes you feel closer to them by having some communication with them. Always try and end you conversations on a happy note. Teens will be more willing to come back in the future for more advice or even just for you to listen. Sometimes our teens will not need advice just an ear to listen to a problem or to unload the bad day that they may have had.

6. Always remember this one. Try to give your teen respect. Give them as much respect as you think they need to give you. Give respect get respect in return. It is a pretty proven fact. Another big thing is respect their privacy. If we stuck our nose in our teens life all the time. What would they have to come to us about? Your teen would feel that you already know.

7. This one is a big one too. Please whatever you do keep what you and your teen talk about to yourself. Don’t go and tell the first person you see what you and your teen discussed. It will eventually get back to your teen and all that trust that your teen thought they had with you is gone in an instant. Not including the humiliation of hearing their problem being told to them by God only knows who. It is just so important that you keep it just between you and you’re teen.

Following these few steps had proven for me that I can have good communication with my teens. My teens know that they can come to me about anything. When you do this with your kids they will take it with them when raising their own children and carry it over to them. It’s a win, win situation for generations to come. Communication is needed in this day and time for us as parents to help keep our children safe.

Shannon Miller is the mom of 5 children. Come by her site, http://www.parentingfroma-z.com and share some of her parenting experiences.

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