Start early. I’ll discuss the research more in a following post, but one of the MOST important things we can do BEFORE our children enter adolescence, is build and maintain a strong relationship with our children. Connection reduces the turbulence and storm and stress in adolescence, ESPECIALLY connection with parents. While it is possible to build connection once our children are in adolescence, it is SO much easier to do when our children are younger, think we are the entire world, and want significantly more time and connection with us (once they become teens, my friends and I discuss taking any ‘drippings’ we get ;-)). As teens, our children’s friends, partners, work, and their own lives become increasingly more important and time consuming, and the time we get with our teens and young adults becomes less and less.
