Resource Feature

Have you ever had a blowup with your middle schooler, walked away, calmed down, and thought, “All right…what next?” The yelling stopped. Everybody went to their separate corners. The house is quiet again, but it still feels weird. Maybe you know you didn’t handle everything the best way but your child was still dead wrong. So, do you apologize? Wait for them to apologize? Talk about it? Pretend nothing happened? And if you reconnect, does that mean the consequence goes away?

You tell your middle schooler to do something. They push back. You explain. They challenge your explanation, so you explain again, because apparently the first explanation didn’t have enough razzle-dazzle on it. They get louder. You get louder. Their attitude shows up. Your attitude decides to join the party. And somewhere along the way, what you originally asked them to do isn’t even the issue anymore. Now you’re arguing about the argument. And this is where we parents can g

Your teen may be starting some of these arguments, but Mom, you might be the one keeping them going. Your middle schooler may be starting some of the arguments in your house, but friend, you might be the one helping keep them going. I know. Nobody wants to hear that. But think about the last argument you had with your child. At what point had you already made your point, but you just kept going? You gave a direction. Your child pushed back. You responded to the pushback. They