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Show Parents, Listen to Your Kids, It Might Help Some together long enough to do so. If parents want to know what their adolescents really think they must give them a chance to explain. Taking time to com municate with understanding not only strengthens the parent-teenager parent-teenager relationship, but it makes being together as a family fun again. by Dr. M. Ford McBride One of the most frequent fre-quent complaints I hear from adolescents is that their parents don't listen to their ideas, accept ac-cept their opinions or try to understand their feelings. Teenagers want parents who will talk with them, not at them. Recently a young teenager told me that she can't talk to her parents because they won't listen or let her explain. Her parents refuse to try to see things from his point of view. I doubt the world would change much if parents would lose an argument once in a while and listen to the other side of the problem. pro-blem. The adolescent needs an attentive ear from his parents. Being attentive at-tentive lets the adolescent adoles-cent know he has something worthwhile to say. Often communication com-munication breaks down because the adolescent feels his parents don't care and lack understanding. Some parents feel threatened when their adolescent disagrees with them or doesn't accept ac-cept their ideas. Parents have to keep in mind that they don't always have to have the "last word." The parent who refuses to talk and closes an argument by saying, "I don't want to discuss it, what I say goes," is closing the door to effective communication. com-munication. The same can be said of the adolescent who gets mad, stomps out of the room, and refuses to discuss a matter reasonably. Psychiatric social Worker, Virginia Satir, reports that some families spend as little as ten minutes a week together. Good communication com-munication takes time. If families are to talk, they have to be |