Your Teen vs. Your Phone
What to say when your teen names the gap between your phone use and theirs, even when the other parent in your house isn't on the same page.
This week’s scenario
Your teen has done it. They’ve called you out directly on your own phone use, probably in the middle of an argument about theirs. Maybe they said “you’re always on yours.” Maybe they said “you and baba are on your phones all the time.” Maybe they said something sharper. The exact words don’t matter. What matters is that they named the contradiction, and now you have to respond.
The stakes are higher than they were when they were younger. Your teen is old enough to register exactly how you handle this moment, and they will pull from this conversation for years. If you deflect, they note the deflection. If you double down on the rule without acknowledging what they said, they note that too. And if you respond with the kind of honesty that meets them where they are, they note that as well, and they will trust you a little more for it.
Listen to the podcast
Your Phone Use: When Your Teen Calls You Out
In this episode:
1. What's happening developmentally when your teen calls you out.
2. Why this exact conversation is the most important tests of the teen years.
3. A hadith and what it asks of us as parents.
4. To mothers who are holding the household contradiction alone.
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