In the book Cosmic, the main character Liam Digby is reading a book called Talk to your Teen so that he can learn how to be a dad. Here is some advice I would add to the book.

Do you want your teen to be open to you about all of their pointless dramas? Well, then stop trying too hard! Teens hate it when you try to really get into their social lives. But if you don’t try at all, then they think you are ignoring them and you don’t care about them. So the key is being right in the middle.

Try to learn the signs of whether or not they want to talk to you about whatever is going on in their lives. If they don’t want to talk then DO NOT force them to. It will just end up with them hating you. If they don’t want to talk to you, then they will most likely try to avoid you, or act like they had the best day ever at school. If they do, then they will keep hinting to you that something bad happened. And whatever you do, NEVER try to act like a teenager or a “Cool Parent” because that will probably end up with them saying,”Oh no, that’s DEFINITELY not my dad!”

Image from Flickr CC: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29658188@N06/5447049550

Posted with Blogsy