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172 The Teen Survival Guide to Dating and Relating
services organizations, and places of worship. This kind of workshop will help you and your
parents learn to understand each other better. Once you begin that process, you can work
together to improve your relationship.- Call a family meeting to work things out. Be patient with and respectful of your
parents during the meeting. When it’s your turn to talk, explain calmly how their behavior
makes you feel. Ask them to change the way they relate to you.
With open communication and continued mature behavior on your part, your parents
might start seeing beyond the seven-year-old you once were to the person you have become.
Thanks for writing.In friendship,
TerraMy mom criticizes everything that I do!
Hey Terra,My relationship with my mom has gotten so bad. Every single thing I do or say bothers her.
I get the feeling that she’s trying to keep me from growing up or something. Yesterday, she
was complaining about my eyebrows, telling me that I look like a “slut” and accusing me of
doing stuff that I’ve never even done with a guy. I can’t wait to graduate from high school in
a year, get a job, and move out of here.So MadDear So Mad,I’m sure your mother wants you to grow up, but it sounds like part of her may not be ready
to see you on your own. Maybe she feels sad that your childhood is ending. Instead of telling
you how she feels, she’s giving you a hard time, which makes you want to get away from her
even sooner.
Maybe, on some level, she’s contributing to the friction because she thinks that if you two
aren’t getting along, she won’t miss you as much when you leave home. She isgoing to miss