Raising a teenage son is no joke! There are times when you’ll want to rip your hair out, laugh your butt off or just walk away. Teenage sons really are quite a bowl of fun and surprises from time to time. With all of that shock and awe though, teenage sons are actually pretty quiet. Teenagers aren’t one to come forth with their feelings, at least, not teenage boys. Today I’m going to share a few tips for communicating with your teenage son. If you’re struggling with communication between your teenage son and yourself, these tips will help open up the line of communication sooner rather than later.
Teach Speaking of Emotions
Often times we forget that our teenage son may not understand how to verbalize what they’re feeling inside. They often will hold it in and we sit it comes out as anger or frustrating when it could have all started off as a simple hurt feeling moment. Work with your teenage son to use the right words to define how he’s feeling. While this may sound childish, it’s honestly the first step in trying to communicate with your teenage son. Lead by example, start using proper vocabulary to define how you’re feeling during the day, your teenage son is listening to I promise you that.
Stop Assumptions
One area where communicating with your teenage son gets ruined is when you assume how he’s feeling or what he’s thinking. Learn to let go of the assumptions that he’s feeling or thinking a certain way. Between hormones, friendship changes and body growth, this teenage son is going through a lot at this stage in his life. Your little boy is now growing up and while he used to showcase emotions in a certain way, it’s a whole new ball game now, and you need to relearn his body language and ques for how he’s feeling rather than assuming.
Communicate Indirectly
This tip for communicating with your teenage son tends to work wonders with teen boys who simply do not speak much. If there’s something on your mind or a subject you want to address with your son, communicate out loud while he’s eating breakfast or doing something that isn’t taking up a lot of his attention. When you start to communicate indirectly to your teenage son, you’ll soon find that he starts to talk back to you in a good way and communication gets opened up again. There’s something about that confrontation of communication that deters teenage boys from speaking up about their thoughts.
Once you’ve started to work on these tips for communicating with your teenage son, you can implement other strategies to follow up with them later on in the week or month. Another great way to start working on communication with your teenage son is to enjoy some of his favorite activities, perhaps you set a weekly “date” with your son to play his favorite video games or go to his favorite restaurant, these ideas will surely help open up the communication between you and your teenage son in no time at all.
These are some great ideas. Talking with teens can be tricky. I have one teenage son, and a daughter who is about to be a teen. I find not asking too many questions at once helps. I’ll ask one every hour or so, ha. Also, food helps! I’ve gotten them out of their rooms with the promise of food many times.
I have a teenage boy and although he is so busy with school activities we have a good relationship and do a lot of things together. It is a sometimes tough time and changes by the day so I have to ride the waves as they come.
These are great tips. I have 3 girls that are out of the house and 13 year old boy/girl twin. While I have lots of experience dealing with teenage girls, it’s been a whole new ballgame navigating the world of teen boys!
I have three teenage daughters and two sons 11 and 8. This is so helpful even now. My 11 year old does not speak!! I’m going to try indirect communication and see what happens.
These are all great tips. My son is 31 now but it was a much different world then than it is today. I don’t envy you your job.
I am so envious of all of you who are raising boys. What a great opportunity you all have! These tips are wonderful for raising our boys into thoughtful and caring men.
Talking to teens can be tricky. I have raised three teens and working on number 4 so I know that some do not like to talk.
I love these tips! I think they could apply to my daughter too. She is getting more complicated to speak with.
It is so true. Teenagers often do not talk about their emotions openly on their own and they need an environment that encourages that & simultaneously allows them to speak freely and isn’t immediately met with criticism. You seem like a great mom!
Growing up kids can be challenging, their moods and attitude which doesn’t conform to what we parent’s expect them to do. They are really a handful.
These are some great tips. I only have daughters and no sons. I can only imagine how hard it may get the older they get though. I’m not necessarily looking forward to the teenage years.
I already have anxiety about when my daughter becomes a teen. I feel these tips could work really well when communicating with her too.
They can be really hard to crack open. Being able to talk to them is important for everyone’s mental health.
“Communicate indirectly” yes! OMG these are all spot on. Thanks for sharing these tips for communicating with your teenage son, I have my first teenage son and in two years the other one will be a teen, there’s a lot of indirect communication going on in this house 😉
Love your tips! Between the headphones and bad attitude I find hard these days to have a nice conversation with my son!
Great tips. I was very lucky and didn’t have many “episodes’ with my son. But now the grandkids will be teens soon. Here we go again!
It is going to be interesting when my son stops talking to me. I have already seen him start spending more time in his room.
The teenage years were rough, both for the teen and the parent. These are excellent tips to help navigate those years.
I am going to be needing these wonderful tips. My son will become a teenager soon and I know it’s not really easy to communicate with them
These are great tips, I need to keep a copy of it as I have son who is going to teenager in few years. I will need these. I need to check this out.
The teen years can be tough, for sure. These all sound like great strategies. I have a daughter, and these would be good to try.
These are fantastic tips. The teen years are definitely some of the roughest years in a parent’s life LOL