By Emily Habelrih
Recently, more and more people have DM’d me about adolescents and challenging behaviour at home.
I believe that every family will give subconscious messages to their children daily. For the purposes of the enquiries I have received, let’s focus on adolescents. Some of the messages we send our teens are really helpful and encourage independence, decision making, and self-esteem. However, unfortunately, some messages we provide our teens with are less helpful and cause friction within the family home.
David Ward has released research on ‘five messages every adolescent needs to hear.’ It is a really insightful piece of research. I will link the article below, as well as David Ward’s website for more information. But in summary, the five messages he believes are important, are:
- YOU CAN GO
- WE BELIEVE IN YOU
- WE WILL MISS YOU
- WE WILL COPE WITHOUT YOU
- LET’S STAY IN TOUCH
I don’t want to get too much into these messages as it will ruin the article and I believe it is SO well written that everyone should just go and have a read for themselves.
The article itself needs to be purchased. I have a FREE download I can share. You will find it on the 'PUBLICATIONS' section of my website. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
The link to the website is here:
The link to the adolescent coping cards I have created is here: https://www.theplayfulpsychologist.com/product-page/adolescent-affirmation-cards
Another great resource that I found, which is a FREE download, is this parent’s guide to early adolescence. To assess this resource, click here: https://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/adolescence/adolescence.pdf