99. How To Be the Mom, Not the Bro: What Your Teenage Son Really Needs
Raising Boys Building Men ®/: Reconnect with Your Teenage SonShow Notes
Your teenage son does not need another friend, he needs a mom. In this blunt but hopeful episode, Heidi shares research from Dr. Leonard Sax along with a story from her own life to explain why so much parenting information is leaving moms more confused, not less. She walks through three things research shows our boys need most right now, and why none of it is too late to start. Takeaways:
Information overload is making parents feel less confident, not more. Sticking with a few trusted sources beats searching everywhere for the perfect answer. Nothing has gone wrong. Parenting a teenage boy is just hard, and telling yourself something is broken only adds suffering on top of what is already hard. Try believing this is simply the hard part. Teach him respect at home first. If he does not learn to put the phone down and look you in the eye at home, he will not offer that respect anywhere else. Keep the hierarchy in your home. Your son feels the safest when he knows you are steering the ship, even on the days he pushes back against it. Land in the middle of the boundary spectrum. Think bowling bumper pads, not too strict and not too lax, so he feels safe instead of scared or out of control.
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