Podcast Episode #46 – Raising Boys Q&A: Maintaining Connection Through the Teen Years

Raising Boys

We’re back again with Nathan McTague for more Q&A about raising boys. This portion of the conversation is about teenagers, and how to maintain connection with them as they make their way toward adulthood.

There is territory that can be tricky, with developing brains wired differently than before. Emotions often come up that may be more intense than before, and teens have a strong, natural urge to become an individual with one’s own identity.

If we have laid the groundwork by modeling healthy relating, by empowering our children to be able to identify their own feelings and needs, and by maintaining a connection with our children, we do not have to buy into the ideas of teenagers breaking away and becoming disconnected from us.

Rebecca and Nathan talk about exciting ways of looking at allowing our children to have space to allow their own feelings and experiences, with us standing by lovingly. There are tools that we have not needed thus far that are appropriate now at this stage, which will help us navigate the new waters of teen-hood alongside our children, in connection with them.

Resources from this Episode

The Center for Emotional Education