Relationships between parents and teens change considerably in the teen years. The good news is, this is a positive - “it’s supposed to change”. So why does it not feel or sound so great at the time?

What does a healthy relationship with your teens look like? Why is it important to support your teen with understanding how they relate to tension? How do you rebuild trust between you and your teen if the relationship hasn’t been what you’d like it to be?

In the Teen Clinic Podcast youth advocate, teen expert and mother of three teenagers – Lucy Dahill – discusses the changing relationships teens experience with their friends and family, more notably their parents, as they become more independent.

Lucy explores the correlation between the relationships parents have with the people around them and how that modelling of behaviour influences the way teens develop their own relationships during this crucial time. On top of this, she looks at how the digital world changes the dynamics of teen’s relationships and teen’s use of certain coping mechanisms, encouraging parents to target the source of these problems rather than the actual coping strategy. Lucy encourages you to support your teens to create new relationships and to set the standards of what is appropriate and respectful.