Q: I have a pre-teen daughter who is struggling with expressing her feelings. We’ve always been able to talk, but trying to get her to discuss hormonal changes and woes of friends is causing her emotional outbursts, which creates considerable angst. I don’t want to lose our friendship in this growing-up process.
Joyce: For everything there is a season — a time to be a friend and a time to be a parent. This is your season for parenting. Let me offer you a wonderful suggestion for communicating about the more sensitive issues young girls can sometimes find embarrassing to talk about with Mom: Journal it. Get a fun journal or use a simple notebook. Pose a daily question for the two of you to dialogue about. Write your response first. Take her back in time when you were a young girl and struggled with similar issues. The discussion will increase with patience and persistence. Let her see that you are not too far from understanding exactly how she feels. Be sensitive to her emotions while keeping positive parenting principles in place. She is still the child.
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Write Joyce Oglesby, Family-Life Fitness Pro, at joyce@JustAskJoyce.com. Check out my books and other resources today at JustAskJoyce.com. Listen to The Just Ask Joyce Show M-F at 10am on WNDA 1570/WLRS 1600 AM, or stream it on TuneIn.
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