Top 10 Teen Complaints About Parents

By Barbara Greenberg, PhD, Teen Parenting Expert for GalTime.com

In my role as a psychologist who talks to individual teens and groups of teens several times a week, I came up with an idea to do a poll with them. I asked them to air their top grievances about their parents so that I could keep parents everywhere in the know. Next, I am going to poll what teens like the most about their parents. Hey, we parents should know when we are stepping into potential minefields as well as when we are doing things right -- agree?

So here, in no particular order, is a list of teens' top complaints about their parents:

1. They really dislike when their parents call their teachers without letting them know.

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2. Teens everywhere are embarrassed when parents share what they told them in confidence.

3. They don't like being spoken about as if they are not present.

4. When you brag about them publicly, they want to crawl into a hole.

5. They beg that you not compare them to siblings.

6. They dislike when you expect that they will do things wrong or not at all.

7. Teens want you to ask them once to do things. If you make repeated requests, they say they feel like not doing it at all.

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8. Of course, they dislike when you make assumptions about them that are not true.

9. They particularly dislike the comment "I know you better than you know yourself."

AND

10. They feel very distressed when you talk negatively about their friends.

Parents, stay tuned. I promise to get back to you with a list of what your teens love about you!

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