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Healthy communication with your child starts with a strong relationship.
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To build a strong relationship, prioritize time with your child and foster acceptance. Build fun activities together into your schedule.
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To start building good communication habits, you want to create an experience that your child will want to repeat with you. Your child wants to feel heard.
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One effective way to make the other person feel heard is to practice paraphrasing some of what your child had said.
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Some teens can be fairly uncommunicative at times, but luckily, this is temporary. Don’t use a direct approach confronting your child about this, but continue to talk to them with positive cues.
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Continue to ask questions, even if you feel they are not interested in communicating.
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Ask about depression and anxiety and how it can impact them.
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Ask them if they are interested in talking to a professional about these feelings.
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Tell them if they start to have thoughts of hurting themselves, to tell someone.
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Instill a sense of hope, that there are other options available if they want to talk to someone about these.
