By Saleem Rana
Dr. Melody Foxx recently interviewed, Anthony E. Wolf, Ph.D., about his new book, “I’d Listen to My Parents If They Would Just Shut Up!” on L.A. Talk Radio.
The radio show discussed teenagers and how to deal with them. It discussed a wide variety of everyday parenting scenarios and outlined numerous strategies to close the communication gap between parents and teenagers.
According to Dr. Wolf, the teenage years are especially difficult for parents because their talkative and emotionally responsive children suddenly become total strangers. Boys, he said, generally, prefer to spend most of their time at home in the bedroom, listening to music, texting friends, and surfing the Internet. Girls, meanwhile, make an all-out effort to establish their independence by arguing with their parents, particularly their mothers, about everything that limits their freedom and self-expression.
The psychologist also added that teenagers are not only difficult to get along with at home, but they are often likely to be deceitful about their lives outside the home, lying about their circle friends and the parties that they attend. When challenged, they are often argumentative, talking back and fighting over everything that does not suit them.
Dr. Wolf described typical teenage responses to parental requests, and offered suggestions on how parents can create a peaceful household despite their antagonistic, combative teenagers. He elaborated on hot buttons that set teenagers off and how parenting styles in the 21st century should not try to model after the way the parents themselves were raised. He also talked about how it’s a different age now, a time of Internet and electronic devices. Consequently, this calls for a distinctly different style of parenting because parents have to deal with new social perils like alcohol, drugs, and promiscuity.
A practicing clinical psychologist for children and adolescents, Dr. Wolf is a former columnist for Child Magazine and a current columnist for the Globe and Mail. He has authored numerous parenting books and in his private practice, he advises parenting and professional groups all over the country.
If you would like to learn more about how to best handle your teenagers, please visit Allen Cardoza’s website, where you can listen to the interview in its entirety.
I’d Listen to My Parents if They’d Just Shut Up | Anthony Wolf, Ph.D.
