I have always been troubled by our cultural notion that teenagers are inherently difficult people and that there is no way to avoid having a miserable time with your child during those years.

I mean, I understand that going through all that change in a few short years is challenging, and that there are a lot of misunderstandings that can (and do) occur.

I’m not naive, I’m just hopeful.

I can’t help but wonder if some of the problems that crop up have to do with the cultural expectation described above. You know,  the way that, if you expect trouble, you often find it?*

Anyway, as usual when I start wondering about something, I started researching, and that led me to Daniel. J. Siegel’s book ‘Brainstorm.’ I’m reading it right now and I’ll let you know how it goes. So far, I like what what he has to say and I’ll be writing more about it when I’m done.

If this topic intrigues you, too, you might want to check out Brainstorm.

 

*Please know that if you are struggling to communicate with your teenager, I’m NOT saying that you are the cause of the trouble. I’m not thinking of individual cases here, I’m wondering about our cultural approach. This stuff is just hard all around. For everyone.