When families manage their conflicts poorly, more trouble follows. Maybe your teen loses respect for your advice and becomes constantly critical of your words and actions. Maybe your daughter develops an argumentative attitude all the time—and not just with you. Or maybe your son, in anger and hurt, intentionally seeks out friends who are the opposite of the ones you'd choose for him. Maybe her language becomes increasingly disrespectful or foul. Maybe his facial expressions begin to reflect constant anger or even violence. Sometimes your kids will purposely avoid you, or at least turn their backs on you. Other times, they withhold affection, along with any expression of caring feelings. Sometimes teens begin to "medicate" their emotional pain with sex, alcohol, or drugs.

Unless you're a superhuman parent, it's likely that some of these downsides of conflict have crept into your conflict style. But conflict can bring opportunities for improving your relationship with your teen, you can begin immediately to handle conflicts in a more productive way. In the next chapter we'll look at some tangible ways you can do just that.

Recommended Resource:

Buy Communicating With Your Teen

© Copyright 2003 Smalley Relationship Center

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