{"id":19,"date":"2013-03-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/when-teen-back-talk-is-the-right-talk\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T18:51:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T18:51:50","slug":"when-teen-back-talk-is-the-right-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/when-teen-back-talk-is-the-right-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"When teen back talk is the right talk."},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Teen back talk is a necessary part of growing up.<\/h2>\n<p>BUT, it needs to be groomed by knowledgeable parents and other adults.\u00a0 Know that fresh, crude, disrespectful, and offensive talk is NOT the kind of talk I\u2019m talking about! <em>Teen back talk can be channeled<\/em> into something that improves not only \u201chome life\u201d, but \u201crest of life\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">No more teen back talk to the hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Before you parents disagree, and you teens agree or vice-versa, read what Patti Neighmond has written for NPR.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Researchers from the University of Virginia recently published their findings in the journal<em> Child Development<\/em>. Psychologist Joseph P. Allen headed the study.<\/p>\n<p>Allen says almost all parents and teenagers argue. But it\u2019s the quality of the arguments that makes all the difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe tell parents to think of those arguments not as nuisance but as a critical training ground,\u201d he says. Such arguments, he says, are actually mini life lessons in how to disagree \u2014 a necessary skill later on in life with partners, friends and colleagues on the job.<\/p>\n<p>Teens should be rewarded when arguing calmly and persuasively and not when they indulge in yelling, whining, threats or insults, he says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>You see that it is effective argument, that is the key.\u00a0 Teens who are listened to when they offer valid arguments are empowered to take that skill to all aspects of their lives.<\/p>\n<h2>When teen back talk is converted to rational argument\u2026<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Allen interviewed the teens again at ages 15 and 16. \u201cThe teens who learned to be calm and confident and persuasive with their parents acted the same way when they were with their peers,\u201d he says. They were able to confidently disagree, saying \u2018no\u2019 when offered alcohol or drugs. In fact, they were 40 percent more likely to say \u2018no\u2019 than kids who didn\u2019t argue with their parents.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: Effective arguing acted as something of an inoculation against negative peer pressure. Kids who felt confident to express themselves to their parents also felt confident being honest with their friends.<\/p>\n<p>So, ironically the best thing parents can do is help their teenager argue more effectively. For this, Allen offers one word: listen.<\/p>\n<p>In the study, when parents listened to their kids, their kids listened back. They didn\u2019t necessarily always agree, he says. But if one or the other made a good point, they would acknowledge that point. \u201cThey weren\u2019t just trying to fight each other at every step and wear each other down. They were really trying to persuade the other person.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>\u00a0This may necessitate a change in parental view of teen back talk.<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">New style for teen back talk?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is necessary for parents and other adults that interact with teens to <strong>foster the rational argument approach to mold teen back talk into a vital life skill<\/strong>.\u00a0 The teen really wants us to listen.\u00a0 He or she may often just settle with \u201cattention-getting\u201d when actually looking for active listening.\u00a0 Thus we see the kinds of behaviors that push buttons on us.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Child psychologist Richard Weissbourd says the findings bolster earlier research that finds that \u201cparents who really respect their kids\u2019 thinking and their kids\u2019 input are much more likely to have kids who end up being independent thinkers and who are able to resist peer groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Weissbourd points to one dramatic study that analyzed parental relationships of Dutch citizens who ended up protecting Jews during World War II. They were parents who encouraged independent thinking, even if it differed from their own.<\/p>\n<p>So the next time your teenager huffs and puffs and starts to argue and give you teen back talk, you might just step back for a minute, take a breath yourself, and try to listen. It may be one of the best lessons you teach your child.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>\u00a0Are you incensed by teen back talk?\u00a0 Are you a teen back talk pro yourself? What are your thoughts about this?\u00a0 Comment and Share below.\u00a0 Regardless of which side of this discussion you may fall, surely you have an opinion!<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teen back talk is a necessary part of growing up. BUT, it needs to be groomed by knowledgeable parents and other adults.\u00a0 Know that fresh, crude, disrespectful, and offensive talk is NOT the kind of talk I\u2019m talking about! Teen back talk can be channeled into something that improves not only \u201chome life\u201d, but \u201crest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,2,8,9,3,22,14],"tags":[62,63,64,65,33,66],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-marketing","category-blogger-profiles","category-blogging-101","category-did-you-know","category-email-marketing","category-empower-network","category-parenting","category-philosophylife","tag-effective-argument","tag-new-teen-dialog","tag-rational-discourse-with-teens","tag-teen-back-talk","tag-teens","tag-true-argument"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/howtodoitnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}