Tip #7. What Makes Uncommunicative Teens Want to Talk

I'm Dr. Myrna Shure from Drexel University with today's parenting tip, brought to you by the New Jersey Governor's Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Committee.

Your child always wanted to talk with you. He's a teenager now. Does he still want to talk? One mom said, "Only if he wants to. But if I ask him questions, all I get is, 'Nothin.' 'No one.' 'Dunno.'"

But what makes them want to talk?

Malik's mom talks to him about his interests-sports figures, pop artists. When they have problems in their lives, he wants to talk about that. This becomes a segue to talking about his problems.

When a well-known pop artist got into trouble over alleged inappropriate behavior with girls, Malik started talking about his feelings about girls. When another died from an overdose of drugs, Malik talked about the dangers of drugs.

Bill, 17 thought all his parents cared about were his grades, "Not what I cared about. It's hard to confide in them how I feel about things.

If you talk with your teen about what interests them - without "What did you do?" "Who did you do that with?" and "Why did you do it?" -- you might be less likely to hear "Nothin," "No one" and "Dunno."

I'm Dr. Myrna B. Shure.