One of the challenges of parenting teens is how to make our teens open up to us, di ba? I have friends who tell me it takes so much prodding to get a kwento out of their teens. When I hear that, I feel extremely lucky that my 2 girls like to (over)share their thoughts with me. Yan yung natural na sa kanila. I love parenting my teens talaga, and I
share all the reasons why here!
But for me, more than having them open up to me, I want to be able to have a meaningful influence in their lives. Yung tipong, they will instinctively come to me for advice before they make a major decision. That's why I'm working on being consistently and intimately involved in their worlds, that's the only way to make sure they will actively involve me in theirs.
On my part, I try my best to
be a good listener para they will feel comfortable sharing what's going on in their lives with me if they know I won't judge them right away. The key word is right away. I take time to listen first before I weigh in, kahit na mahirap gawin minsan.
I share more about my realizations on how to be a good by-stander in my teens' lives here.
