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How to Connect with your Tween/Teen

August 27, 2015 by Wifeeclectic 16 Comments

A couple of weeks ago my mom and youngest sister moved in with us. I went from dealing with a 6-year-old and 1-year-old on a regular basis to throwing a tween in the mix. It has been a really smooth transition as I remember being and emotional tween myself, but there have been many times I have been absolutely baffled as to why she is upset and said silent apologies to my parents for the crazy I was in the teen years. Not bad crazy, just emotional crazy. Here are my tips for staying connected to your tween based on when I was one.

1. Take an interest. When I was a teenager, I suddenly became very interested in exploring other religions. My parents who are very religious never freaked out. They bought books and drove me to services for other churches. They had frank discussions with me about their religion and other religions. They were so loving and involved in the entire situation that it ended up being a very positive learning experience for me instead of a rebellion. They took an interest in something that was important to me and took something that could hurt our relationship and used it to make it stronger.

Whenever I see parents are concerts for their child’s favorite band I want to give them a big high five. You are showing your kid that their opinion matters. It can be hard to not tell them to shut off their noise. I am guilty of it quite a bit, but showing them that you care about what they care about goes a long way.

2. Find one and one time. I am one of six kids. One and one time with your mom can be hard to come by. My parents took small opportunities such as driving to practices, dentist appointments and even just long Sunday drives with just one kid to reconnect to us and to get us to open up. There were many things I didn’t want my siblings to know so I didn’t talk about them until I was alone with my mom. My parents were also VERY good about not talking about one child’s problems with another. It drove us crazy as kids, we wanted to know the dirt on the other siblings, but I am grateful for it. Since my siblings and I are very close, we often told each other anyway, but it helped that it was always on our terms.

3. Make your house the place people want to be. My parents always worked hard to make our house the fun house, Some it was purchases, like a pool table, and some was just the laid back atmosphere. My parents decided early on that they would rather create an environment that we loved to be and our friends loved to be. It made it very easy to stay involved in our lives without seeming overbearing.

Capture the Flag during a Family Night. 

4. Have a family night. Growing up, there was one night a week that we weren’t allowed to schedule extra things. No practices, no study sessions. Obviously it wasn’t completely unavoidable but for the most part that one night was special. Some of my best memories come from those nights. My brothers once quoted an entire Jim Carrey movie for us, complete with acting out the scenes. I am not sure I have ever laughed that hard and I am glad my parents gave us the opportunities for such memories.

5. Eat dinner together as a family every night. This one is HUGE in our family. Dinner is non-negotiable. Did you know that kids who regularly eat dinner together as a family feel happier and more optimistic about life than the peers who don’t? (source) If as helping your teen feel happier wasn’t a reason to have family dinner by itself, they have also found that having family dinners decreases your child’s change of obesity and substance abuse AND frequent family dinners leads to better grades. There is pretty much no down side to sitting down with your kids once a day to catch up and share a meals.

I know it can be so hard to want to cook and have a meal after a long day at work, which is why this summer we have been using Dream Dinners. I assemble 12 meals at a time, freeze them in my freezer and pull them out 2-3 at a time to use during the week. We have had a delicious, healthy meal every single night with literally no effort. I love it because on nights I feel like being gourmet chef, I do it and on nights where I feel like cooking is way too much effort, I throw in a Dream Dinner and family dinner is saved.

I love that it is all great food, like ribs. It isn’t liking throwing in a TV dinner, it is about making good wholesome food. You can find out more about my experience with Dream Dinners here.

How do you connect with your tween?

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Parenting

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jamie Sanders says

    August 27, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    love these tips!

    Reply
  2. Maria @closetohime says

    August 27, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    I have a teen and tween at home. It can be very challenging to say the least

    Reply
  3. Lydia Filgueras says

    August 27, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    I'm glad to be past those years, but your tips are great ones, especially about taking their interests seriously and not belittling them.

    Reply
  4. Michelle Thomas says

    August 27, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    Great tips! I find with my 9 year old she mostly wants to be heard and validated, so I try and focus on that with her. Thanks for the great post!

    Reply
  5. Crystal says

    August 27, 2015 at 9:22 pm

    I was so nervous to enter this stage of parenting. Thankfully it's been going well so far, but it's good to know how to stay connected. We've got quite a few more years to get through!

    Reply
  6. Kids Are A Trip says

    August 27, 2015 at 11:08 pm

    You are right on with these tips! They just want to be heard and feel included. We do some of our best talking at bed time. Perfect for one on one time with each parent.

    Reply
  7. MikiHope says

    August 28, 2015 at 12:17 pm

    These sound like perfect tips for dealing with the tweens in your life!!

    Reply
  8. Beth@FrugalFroggie says

    August 28, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    I don't look forward to tweens. I hope boys are easier.

    Reply
  9. Julie is Coco and Cocoa says

    August 28, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    We definitely try to do dinner together each night. Having a family night once a week is on my goal list!

    Reply
  10. Liz Mays says

    August 28, 2015 at 6:24 pm

    These are really helpful ideas. Being open for real discussions is so important.

    Reply
  11. Karissa Ancell says

    August 28, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    These are great tips. My daughter is almost nine and is starting to become a tween.

    Reply
  12. Jaclyn Kent says

    August 28, 2015 at 9:23 pm

    I love these! My sister is a teen, too! Dinner together is something we're already trying to do in our house. My son is only 2, but creating the habit is part of the effort!

    Reply
  13. Living a Fit and Full Life says

    August 28, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    I have 3 girls and just had a baby boy. I'm not looking forward to the teen years!

    Reply
  14. kristi dominguez says

    August 29, 2015 at 2:31 am

    These are great tips! That one on one time is so imporatant!

    Reply
  15. Lexie Lane says

    August 31, 2015 at 2:42 am

    I don't have a tween but I'll get there some day. These are great tips and I do understand just how important each of these are!

    Reply
  16. Southern Made Blog says

    September 1, 2015 at 1:50 am

    This is great! I'm not quite to the that stage yet, but awesome tips!

    Reply

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Welcome to Housewife Eclectic

Debra Hawkins - Housewife EclecticHi, I'm Debra. I am a craftaholic photographer married to a web-programming amateur chef with two sassy littles keeping it interesting. It gets crazy around here. Read More…

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