by janetedgette | Aug 1, 2025 | Boy behavior, Boys, Masculinity, Parent-Child communication, Parenting, Parenting young children, Sportsmanship
“He’s tough, he’s a boy. He can take it,” says a father about his 6-year-old son, who just got knocked flat on his face by an older brother testing out his brand-new bike. Sure, he can take it. What choice does he have? But “can” is a different experience from... 
by janetedgette | Nov 16, 2024 | Parenting
I hear this all the time from my adolescent therapy clients: “My dad has never apologized for anything. He believes he’s never wrong.” They’ve given examples that make me scratch my head because the dads look more ridiculous in their insistence than they ever would... 
by janetedgette | Aug 13, 2024 | "Typical" Teen Behavior, Coaching kids and teens, Counseling adolescents, Counseling teens, Doing therapy with teenagers, Parent-Child communication, Parent-Teen communication, Parenting, Parenting teens, Teenagers
Ever realize that adults communicate with teenagers almost exclusively through questions? It’s boring. And annoying. And then they wonder why their kids or students or therapy clients don’t want to talk with them. But what’s worse is that it’s... 
by janetedgette | Aug 13, 2024 | "Typical" Teen Behavior, Counseling adolescents, Counseling teens, Doing therapy with teenagers, Family life, Parent-Child communication, Parent-Teen communication, Parenting, Parenting teens, Teenagers
Until we re-examine our cultural narrative about adolescence that says all teens are “crazy,” “uncommunicative,” and “irresponsible,” there will continue to be a generation gap that is more apparent than real. After all, when you... 
by janetedgette | Jun 8, 2024 | "Typical" Teen Behavior, Bullying, Parent-Child communication, Parent-Teen communication, Parenting, Parenting teens, Sibling rivalry, Teen behavior
By holding our kids to a higher standard of treating one another, we can put an end to so much of the bullying and unkindness that gets passed off as “typical sibling rivalry” Over the years a lot of bad teen behavior has, unfortunately, become normalized as... by janetedgette | May 6, 2024 | "Typical" Teen Behavior, Family life, Mental health, Parent-Teen communication, Parenting, Parenting teens, Teen behavior, Teenagers
Never has the adage “I was a teenager once too, you know” been more tone deaf to the experience of being a teenager than it is today. So much has changed in the past decade-plus, in ways that have altered the DNA of how kids communicate with one another, entertain and...