Do you realize the power of your words? There’s no substitute for kneecap-to-kneecap communication, where you’re sitting down together and really talking things through. But when direct contact isn’t possible, you can still send a positive message through the fog and vapors of the Web.
POSITIVE TALKS
I’m committed to writing and sending along “positive talk” e-mails. I consider them “cash cow comments,” or words of wisdom I’d like to be remembered by their recipients. They are little words that can make a large impact.
PARENT-TEEN TALK
Here’s what I wrote to a favorite teen of mine today:
Shoulder to shoulder
Hip to hip
Elbow to elbow
Together we stand…
Forever together.
Perhaps one day too soon, the teen shoe will be on the parent.
IF THE SHOE FITS
I’d like to think that when I’m ancient, ill or struggling, I just might hear boomeranging back to me from my beloved no-longer-a-teen but now an adult woman:
Dad, shoulder to shoulder
Hip to hip
Elbow to elbow
Together we stand…
Forever together.
LOVE YOUR TEEN UNCONDITIONALLY?
Today, love your teens unconditionally as if their lives, and yours, might somehow just depend on it. And remember my admonition about change: “What goes around comes around, including positive paybacks of love and loving kindness.”
If you live with, teach, work alongside or otherwise love teen(s)…do you freely agree with the core tenet implied above? Do you believe that unconditional love promotes a healthy love of self and respect for relationship rules that create winners?
ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGIST AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER DR. DENNIS O’GRADY, PSY.D.
Dr. Dennis O’Grady is a communications psychologist from Dayton, Ohio, and the author of TALK TO ME: Communication Moves to Get Along with Anyone. He is a husband and the father of three daughters, two of whom are teenagers. Dr. O’Grady is President-Elect of the Dayton Psychological Association and Clinical Professor at the Wright State School of Professional Psychology.