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90: Values, and how being strong about our own can help teens navigate a society of desires. Listener email.
90: Values, and how being strong about our own can help tee…
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June 5, 2024

90: Values, and how being strong about our own can help teens navigate a society of desires. Listener email.

90: Values, and how being strong about our own can help teens navigate a society of desires. Listener email.
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Parenting teenagers, untangled: The award-winning podcast for parents of teens and tweens.

Send us a text

Hermes was a Greek god able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, helped by his winged sandals. We mere mortals, on the other hand, are stuck here on Earth, and more likely to associate the word, Hermes with expensive handbags.

When a listener wrote a beautiful email talking about her struggles with a young daughter who has been begging for one of these extremely expensive Hermes bags for her birthday I thought it would be a great topic for discussion.

The problems our listener faces trouble so many of usthe various issues in the hope of supporting the listener and helping others along the way; after all, we're a community here to help each other.
 
TOPICS COVERED:


  • Parenting styles
  • Desire for posessions as a way to feel included
  • The  importance of values
  • Celebrating our own culture
  • The impact of society on our desires and choices


BOOK SUGGESTION:
Hold on to Your Kids, by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate


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Chapters

01:52 - FOMU: the fear of messing up

05:05 - It's never too late

05:44 - The email

07:52 - The challenge of parenting in a foreign country

09:33 - Finding it hard to say no

11:03 - Explaining our values

12:15 - Empathy for our teen's desires

13:23 - Rachel's course, and finding our values

15:47 - The sliding scale of parenting from authoritarian to permissive

18:26 - Discussion of permissive parenting

21:09 - Is the statement really what the teenager thinks?

22:31 - Celebrating our own culture to help the teen form their identity

25:52 - Being honest about our own struggles

27:42 - Helping our teens with manners

29:10 - The loneliness of pareting in a foreign country

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:03.178 --> 00:00:12.509
Hello, and welcome to teenagers untangled the audio hub for parents going through the teenage years. I'm Rachel Richards, journalist, parenting coach, mother of two teenagers and two bonus daughters.

00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:18.929
Hi there, I'm Susie Asli, mindfulness coach, mindful therapist, musician, a mother of three teenagers, two of them.

00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:40.560
Now I get a lot of emails, and a recent one had a massive impact on me because the mom is so lovely. And she's a professional, she's working so hard. But she was also very vulnerable in it and covered so many of the things that we parents struggle with. And with her permission, we're going to talk about it in this episode.

00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:40.560
So thank you, I won't name her.

00:00:40.560 --> 00:01:22.620
And I'm going to try and keep any sort of identifying detail out of it on the top of females, because it's just me managing them, I'm always going to prioritize the ones from listeners, because that's basically all I really care about if I'm honest, but I do get people pitching guests, and sometimes it's something that I'm really interested in. So I say yes, mostly, I don't have time to deal with them. One woman has contacted me repeatedly to ask if I'd like to talk on the show about vaginal gymnastic. Oh, would you like to be an avid listener? I not really convinced that she's listened to this podcast was I'm not sure how she thinks that's gonna fit in with our material.

00:01:17.849 --> 00:01:25.650
But since you do, listen, thank you so much for reaching out.

00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:27.450
But I don't think it's really one for this show. What

00:01:27.450 --> 00:01:35.069
do you think? No. I mean, I think we should keep an open mind. I don't know a lot about vaginal gymnastic. So maybe you can

00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:44.609
even go into the words that she uses. But just maybe just completely, like subscriber only just listen to different podcasts. We could just do a podcast. Yeah,

00:01:44.609 --> 00:01:48.420
maybe maybe it's not appropriate. It's so funny.

00:01:50.010 --> 00:02:04.230
Now I just wanted to mention, before we go on to this email, in the interview I did with the young adult mentor, Kane Ray boom, he has on something that I think is really important for us to understand with our teens. And he mentioned the acronym FOMO, which is a fear of messing up.

00:02:04.739 --> 00:02:46.080
And he says this comes up all the time with is young adults who are failing to launch you're struggling. I've definitely seen that a lot. The fear of messing up stops our teenagers from trying things. Because if they don't try it, then they can't mess up. And I think if you've got a teenager who doesn't want to do certain sports, who doesn't? He just isn't engaging behind that very often is a real fear of being shamed. Yeah. And not being good enough. Because then if you don't try, then you can say, well, you know, I just didn't want to do it. Yeah. So just that empathy and that understanding that that's a major thing for teenagers. Yeah,

00:02:46.110 --> 00:02:56.729
because we've assessed from when they're tiny as being good at stuff. Yes, like you have to be good or weak, or you're good at that you're good at that do something you're good at and they think they have to be good at it and they can't not be good at it.

00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:03.990
But also they're surrounded, you look at Instagram, okay, I'm going to start playing the guitar, you go on Instagram, or you go on Tik Tok, or any of those things.

00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:09.330
It's full of people who can do extraordinary things on the guitar. So then you're like, well,

00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:10.770
what's the point?

00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:10.770
Point,

00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:25.229
right? A tennis, what's the point? Am I not, you know, going to surgery, right? So so it's actually really, we need to be aware of this and be talking to them about it and saying that's not something we're aspiring to. And I think schools make it worse.

00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:40.560
Because with it when it comes to sports and things, they just focus on the, you know, the tiny creme de la creme, who often are the big kids who started school in October and September. And then the rest of them get sort of quite quickly left by the wayside and they feel like they're not worth it. So really, it's hard to

00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:46.319
understand that the people they see maybe playing that guitar on Tik Tok also started and they couldn't play to stop. No,

00:03:46.349 --> 00:04:43.649
quite, quite understand. Yes. So in this particular episode we're going to talk about there were things that she covered. So one of the things we can talk about his styles of parenting, authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. I'd like to touch on wanting possessions as a way of feeling like you fit in and belonging, the importance of our values, celebrating our own culture, and then the way society makes us think about bettering ourselves and how that can impact on the way we parents, subconsciously, because we just don't want to get it wrong. Do we say you have one chance? So just before we move on, I met a woman on a train once and she was homeschooling her kids. And she had a range of kids freely right down to a little one and I said, oh my goodness, you really have your hands full? And she said, Yeah, I just keep getting better at this so I thought why just why stop screwed up the number one but number seven, I

00:04:44.459 --> 00:05:03.959
had a conversation with my eldest the other day or a while back and we were talking about you know, the benefits of being the first kid or and, you know, against the less beneficial bits of being the first kid and you know, he's the guinea pig. I know. I know. I tried, you know, So I'm really sorry, I tried everything out on you. Some of it work, some of it didn't.

00:05:05.608 --> 00:05:25.559
Exactly. Steven flow who I was talking to the other day. The question they asked was, at what point is it too late? My answer was never, never, ever, ever. Is it too late? Because if you continue is and can rainbow mentioned that he just said, You're not a bad parent, if you're still in the game, and you're still trying, no, it's the ones who give up.

00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:36.029
I was watching going the other day about, you know, adults mending relationships, you know, 40 year olds with, you know, elderly parents mending their relationships. It's never too late. It's

00:05:36.029 --> 00:05:38.490
never too late.

00:05:36.029 --> 00:05:42.149
And it's never too late to, for them to start studying for them to change their life. You know, we can all do this. So

00:05:42.149 --> 00:05:44.129
she our generation, yes, it's never too late.

00:05:44.310 --> 00:05:44.879
Absolutely,

00:05:44.910 --> 00:06:01.259
absolutely. So coming back to this email. I, we mentioned her in the last one of the shows where it was I adore your show, I felt really lonely in my struggles as a parent, and you really changed that. Okay, so her my daughter always struggled academically, but she really applied herself aged 11.

00:06:01.290 --> 00:07:15.600
And she was so keen to get into a good school. We can all relate to her. Yeah, we got swept up with her enthusiasm and applied to PA schools, which is what she refers to them and they couldn't really afford them. Yeah, that she's had sleepless nights over it, it turns out that they basically can't afford the scope this two years on, can't really afford this good schooling, I can completely understand and relate to how they got into that position. And how hard that must be. But she this girl is one of three. She has also stopped working. So she has not joined any clubs at the school. She's doing the bare minimum she says studying as for nerds, her aspiration is to marry a rich man. Which is very sweet, really disheartening, when you're working really, really hard to put your child into what you hoped would be a really great school, and then you're getting this. Okay. They tried to get her a place in the State School, which is actually quite I've heard this from other people where it's not that easy. You actually have to it's quite a long waiting list where you lived in it yet depends on where you live. And the daughter is also really upset about it. She doesn't want to move, obviously.

00:07:12.509 --> 00:07:47.610
And she's feels quite snobby about the state schools. This This listener isn't actually English annoys her husband, right? I've said, yes. So this is why my heart went out to them. Because you know, we're all of those things, all of those things made me really feel for her. But it's also sort of living in a country where it's not really your cultural background. This happens to a lot of people. And I think a lot of our listeners are in this situation. And you're trying to figure out what's important in the country you're in, like, what are the values I need? And what should I how do I fit in?

00:07:44.850 --> 00:07:52.680
And I've had another lady contact me about this, who's Middle Eastern? And she said, you know, she's struggling with this as well. Yeah, I

00:07:52.680 --> 00:08:01.079
think when you live in a foreign country, when I lived in a foreign country for years, yes, you've experienced, they're quite similar countries.

00:07:57.060 --> 00:08:21.029
So that's, you know, it's not as not as contrasting as maybe it is for them. But you kind of lose your sense of, oh, it's easy to lose your sense of what normal is. Because you you're kind of faced with contrast all the time. And faced with stuff that you didn't even know you did as a cultural thing. You just thought you did it. Yes.

00:08:21.089 --> 00:08:23.430
And then suddenly, you're like, oh, they do it differently here.

00:08:23.430 --> 00:08:40.590
So therefore, what I've been doing is cultural. Oh, that's interesting. And it all gets a bit foggy and a bit blurred. And when you're talking about stuff for your kids, which we're really sensitive about. And these parents are like they're doing everything they can to do the best for their kid. And it's a bit like sort of a no running around in the fog, isn't it?

00:08:40.649 --> 00:08:41.909
Yeah, it's really challenging.

00:08:42.058 --> 00:08:51.479
And I want to add to that, that I think we parents now are almost all parenting out of our culture.

00:08:51.479 --> 00:09:10.649
Because what's happened is it's shifted so quickly, that we're now parenting children who are online, we didn't know how that worked. When we were kids. It's a very different style of parenting. And you can't, we can try and be separate from all the other parents around us. But that doesn't. It's very hard.

00:09:10.828 --> 00:09:18.269
Yeah. I mean, I think we all are doing that. I think it's 10 times more challenging for someone who's come from a different country and a different culture, I think, Oh,

00:09:18.269 --> 00:09:30.149
of course, I want to say that actually, I think I think we're all suffering a bit of this where we're looking around. Wait, how does this work? Yes, because it doesn't matter how you were brought up, you're going to be going well, actually, this doesn't. Like I don't I'm not sure I was acquit. Yeah,

00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:33.870
absolutely. Right.

00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:33.870
Hundreds. Okay. So that's

00:09:33.870 --> 00:09:59.970
why I wanted to kind of zoom in on this because I think we can all relate to this. She mentioned that her husband finds it hard to say no to her daughter. Again, apple of his eye. They've got three kids though, and we can all relate to that. We can relate to that. But I here's the thing that I thought when I when I heard that that made me think. And the daughter I didn't mention it she now wants an Hermes bag. Yeah.

00:10:00.809 --> 00:10:34.409
For her birthday, yeah, you're like unbelievably expensive bag that, you know is touted around as being. And I it's so funny, I looked it up on social media and it was, you know, should I buy my 14 year old this home is back she's asking for. And this fashionista said Yeah, I mean if you can afford it, she'll keep it for the rest of her life. No, she won't. She's 14, she's going to spill orange juice in it, it's gonna get stolen. It's on the train. Like, this is not it.

00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:58.169
So there's that. But also, just as an aside, if you're going to buy stuff, okay, you've got a certain amount of money. Here's my thinking, jewelry. Do you know why? Because people in the war could sew jewelry into the hem of the skirt, and escape it saved people's lives. This is why people like that and value jewelry, because you can hide it, you can trade it in a way that like, Hermes bag is good.

00:10:58.230 --> 00:11:03.059
You know, if all everything goes wrong, it's about as useful as a Waitrose shopper bag. And

00:11:03.058 --> 00:11:43.619
it's a really good opportunity to have the conversation as a child of explaining values. And all of that, because obviously, then, you know, they, you know, that would be a bit crazy. I'm not going to judge people who've done it. But in my opinion, that would be crazy thing to do. And to explain it to this to this girl, it's really, really, really good opportunity. But we have to be clear on our own values, don't we? And and if we feel our kids are struggling, if we feel that they're there if in the fog, and we're just kind of trying to feel the ground underneath our feet, where are you? How do we help? How do we do this, and we're doing the best we can, then we don't always see clearly. And we've got forget what our values are.

00:11:40.349 --> 00:11:52.649
So it's really good opportunity both for the parents to stop and go, Okay, what is important to me here, and then to communicate it and learn with their daughter. They can do it together. Yes,

00:11:52.708 --> 00:12:01.499
absolutely. So looking at it going This doesn't feel right. Yeah. Why doesn't this feel right? What is it about it? And where is she getting these values from?

00:12:01.528 --> 00:12:16.318
Because what's happened is she's obviously in an environment where they seem to matter. But we have to we we can only parent with our own values. And because otherwise, if you're trying to clothe yourself in someone else's values, none of it's going to, it's not going to fit.

00:12:16.529 --> 00:12:25.860
And we can do the classic empathy. We've talked about this before. I completely understand why you you want that bag. It's lovely. Or, and I can see maybe your friends got one.

00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:37.440
I totally understand it. We are not going to do that. Yeah, but I'm not going to shame you for the for the wish to have it. I completely agree. Don't shy guys with you know that I can see why you want it. And we're not going to do it.

00:12:37.918 --> 00:12:59.458
Yeah, and, but also, just what does it represent. So trying to help them to think through why it's so important to them. And because they probably don't really know that it's actually an attempt to fit in because they can see the other girls are talking about these things. And they've adopted adopted those values, and they feel like that will make them more popular.

00:12:57.389 --> 00:13:00.178
There'll be in with the popular crowd and

00:13:00.179 --> 00:13:03.059
the empathy, that he doesn't know how this girl is.

00:13:03.059 --> 00:13:06.600
But then it is really important.

00:13:03.059 --> 00:13:12.600
You know, it feels vitally important. So it's having empathy for that as well. It's not like, there's nothing wrong with her for wanting that bag.

00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:23.039
She's not a spoiled little brat, you know that quickly. So she wants to fit in, she wants a bag that have maybe her friends have and there's nothing wrong with the wish and the desire. And we're not going to do

00:13:23.278 --> 00:13:42.599
exactly, exactly. And I think coming back to the values, I have actually written a course hassle. I haven't recorded it. But that goes through all of this. And it's going to be cheapest chips, because you know, well when I first launched it, just so that people because I really, really think this value thing is so important. And it's so hard to get right. Because I don't think there's enough information about it and coming back to this whole

00:13:42.659 --> 00:13:51.360
and we have different values. So examiner, their friends, her friends, family, maybe have different values, and they're cool with it, and that's fine for them.

00:13:52.230 --> 00:13:54.929
That's also hard for a teenager to understand you but why not?

00:13:54.929 --> 00:14:06.750
That's unfair, you know, but really, but but, you know, experiencing her parents standing by their values and being wholehearted with them is a really great lesson. Such a

00:14:06.750 --> 00:14:30.480
great Any, any, it gives you an identity. See, I think this is this is circling around the real issue here. When you have values, it gives your family an identity. So you say the richest family have these values. This is where we sit and being able to explain them and and identify them makes it easier for them to say Oh, well I see this and you say well, that doesn't really sit well with my values. And here's why.

00:14:30.929 --> 00:15:22.409
And and you don't necessarily like you say you don't ever shame them. You just say okay, so because what's also happening here and she actually mentioned the book and I talked about it before is she's becoming much more closely identified with her peer group, then with her family because of her age because of her age. But this is actually there's a book written by Gordon Northfield, and gobble Matty called hold on to your kids which is x optional about this, and I'll put it in the podcast notes. I absolutely love that book because it's talking about how critically important it is to hold your kids within a family circle of values as long as possible. And it's not not letting them grow and try experiment with the things. It's been really clear about who you are as a family, so that they feel anchored in something that's meaningful. Yeah,

00:15:22.409 --> 00:15:34.830
and then then quit, then things that come up that easy to answer, because we're not firstly, searching for our own opinion on it weak. So already, we can go yes, no. But that's where the challenge really comes in, isn't it?

00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:45.330
Because for many of us as adults, we actually are still wondering what our own values are. Yeah. And it's so it's, it's finding out them first.

00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:47.039
Yeah. And I think a lot of us haven't always done that that work?

00:15:47.519 --> 00:16:15.479
Well, I think most of us, and that's again, that's why I wanted this course put this course out. But the and the other thing is that the what is what sort of parenting are we looking for? And we've heard all these, these words like helicopter parenting and free range and everything. But actually, I did a lot of research into this. And and it's basically authoritarian parenting is not what you want, because that is telling them they got to do this, this doesn't this, it feels horrible.

00:16:11.369 --> 00:17:01.619
Old, authoritative parenting is what we're looking for, where it's a balance between having boundaries that are consistent and clear. And that love and that nurturing. Yeah, responsiveness. And then the the other end of it is permissive parenting, where you what you do is it's child lead, as opposed to child centered. And I think the problem we've got in society we're living in particularly Western societies is that because we're kind of trying to reset the pendulum from some of them more authoritarian parenting, a lot of people haven't found where that middle ground is. And they've slipped into permissive parenting where the child leads the way. And what we want to try and do is edge back away from the permissive parenting where the child gets to say, this is what I want, and the parent goes, Oh, okay, then, yeah, I

00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:03.389
can feel I'm reacting to what you're saying.

00:17:03.419 --> 00:17:04.289
You tell me go.

00:17:04.289 --> 00:17:05.579
Tommy, disagree?

00:17:05.578 --> 00:17:18.959
I kind of agree with what you're saying. I do agree with it. And I think it's, it's, I think it's really difficult to put it into boxes like that, because I think it does depend very much on the individuals.

00:17:15.239 --> 00:18:11.909
And that's a kind of a bit of a wishy washy answer. But I genuinely think that and I think, to say that we all are going to be geared up towards a particular way of parenting, I think it brings a lot of problems, because that doesn't work for some people. What doesn't work for them? Well, to say that we shouldn't be doing the permissive or we should be doing a particular way of parenting, because for some people that will work and it will be fine. And their kids will be wholesome, healthy, and it will work, you know, if you see it, and for some, it won't work, because maybe they're doing it differently, or they're not really whole hearts behind it, or they need a different way they need more structure, because we are all very, very different. I think we really do have to sit with our own values, our own history, our own cultural, societal history, sit with that, and decide how do I want to be and be flexible with that, and and go from that space rather, towards a particular model.

00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:26.549
I think that it's undeniable that we need warmth, and responsiveness, and that we need boundaries. Without those two things. The Parenting is not somewhere the parenting is going wrong. You

00:18:26.549 --> 00:18:31.529
can have permissive parenting and her boundaries. It depends how you define it, doesn't it? I think that defines what

00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:37.559
I think if you're like a permissive parenting is a lack of boundary.

00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:38.250
Like you're not actually saying no.

00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:52.079
To me, permissive parenting means that you're taking all the you see the children and the parents is as not hierarchical. But you are you are you have boundaries within that.

00:18:52.288 --> 00:19:03.118
Right? Yes, that's different. I'm talking about at you, it's actually really important as a parent to be able to set boundaries so your child can see where the edge is. And I think there's where the

00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:05.099
child can lead within that sometimes,

00:19:05.249 --> 00:19:19.588
yes, yes. But what we need to do is we need to have conversations with particularly when they're teenagers, you can't say this is how it's going to be, you can say this is how I'd like it to be and then have a conversation with them about it and a discussion. So sure, absolutely.

00:19:19.588 --> 00:19:33.808
But I do think matter of definition has to stop with us parents who do have to say, you know, and I'll say to my daughter, I know this is annoying, but you'll thank me later on. Isn't it awful? You have a parent who loves you enough to say that's not gonna happen?

00:19:33.989 --> 00:19:55.709
I think it's a matter of definition in that case. Yeah. So permissive to me is that everybody is involved in the conversation around it. We have our boundaries that shuts down within a difference. And and it's sometimes it's child led, sometimes it's parent led, but the buck stops the buck stops with with the parent definitely. Rather than or trying to go towards the same model. Yes, we can have our own models within Yes.

00:19:55.710 --> 00:20:03.150
So it's so it's critical that you're having discussions and that you're listening to the A month for sure. But you end up having to say, look, I have to make

00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:10.170
this Yeah, this is how it's gonna go and some families will be more permissive and and what was the middle one you called? His authority

00:20:10.230 --> 00:21:10.259
authoritative authority is the is the thing to aim for which is the basically that balancing it being it you know, show it being responsive like let's it they need things you so it is that it is it's having conversations with them listening to them, showing them warmth and love and all those things. But at the end of the day, you have to give them some boundaries, you have to say, well, that, you know, that sounds great. Like you said, that sounds I understand that sounds wonderful. But that's not gonna happen. Yeah. And that's fine. Because I'm the adult, I'm the parent. And as they get older, that's that, again, that shifts, but it's having those in place. So the Can we back to her sort of game plan, which was she's going to marry a rich man, if she doesn't actually want to work again, some, I've heard that I've heard my daughter come home and say, Oh, this girl said that, you know, she doesn't care because her parents are gonna, you know, they're really rich, and she's just gonna marry a rich man. And I just think it's so I feel so sorry for these kids who feel that way that that's that's the sort of game plan. Yeah,

00:21:10.259 --> 00:21:20.940
but we also need to remember I think that, you know, that's maybe maybe that's the her absolute belief. And then then maybe that perhaps he needs a conversation. And let's have a look at what you mean by that.

00:21:18.450 --> 00:21:27.750
Because just be flippant comment. Because I really like to eat cake for dinner for the rest of my life. She's not going to do that. Or maybe

00:21:27.750 --> 00:21:32.609
she's, you know, her parents who said, Have you done the homework like now?

00:21:29.369 --> 00:21:32.609
Yeah, yeah.

00:21:32.608 --> 00:21:38.878
So we need a bit more context. But maybe if it is, if it is a real belief, then yeah, then that's not ideal.

00:21:39.778 --> 00:21:40.078
It's not

00:21:40.078 --> 00:21:54.598
ideal. And it was, again, Lipin comment. Yeah, so it's about on picking it. And I think the interesting thing with this goal is that she's the first and you've got parents here who are immigrants, and they are hardworking parents.

00:21:54.989 --> 00:22:26.038
And one of the comments that amazing, they are like, she's just, she really, really moved me when she wrote in. And one of the comments she made was, she said, I'm from this society where there's a lot of wealth inequality, and I'm ashamed of having having things. So it's really curious that her daughter has going the other way where she wants she's acquisitive, because again, it's she's in a different society. And she said, and my husband comes from another country, and we're ashamed of that country because of its past. And

00:22:26.069 --> 00:22:30.839
so these things are really triggering for them very troubling, maybe otherwise, which is really understandable.

00:22:31.049 --> 00:23:32.789
But I also said to her, so I can understand how you feel that way. But I remember doing this for parents, and when I was coaching parents in inner city, London, and most of the people I was coaching were immigrants. And they taught me so much. And I absolutely loved meeting each and every one of them. Because often the parenting styles from the countries they came from were very different. But one of the one of the things we did as an exercise was we would actually create a scrapbook of the culture that they came from. So you know, the extended family that may be still living in that country, if there was no extended family, things about that country in that culture that were very positive. Because I think the problem is we come to a new, you know, there are people in countries where they get really crossed, because the people come here and they don't adopt a culture. Of course, you need to adapt to the culture of the country you move to but you also need to harness the wonderful things about the place you come from, because you that is who you are. That's your genes.

00:23:33.299 --> 00:24:05.519
And a recognition of what you've come from. I mean, it's amazing isn't like you live in a foreign country, which I've done, the culture was very similar, but still. And suddenly, all your little things that you celebrate in your own country, suddenly, they're super important. That's just one example. Whereas maybe you didn't even celebrate them like when you live, but now you don't, you're like, Well, this is really important. This is who I am. And so when you live in a different countries, often it's it can go both ways, but it often it's even more important because of the contrast and, and the lack of familiarity around.

00:24:02.670 --> 00:24:05.519
Yeah, so important.

00:24:05.609 --> 00:24:39.089
And I just think that if you've got a girl too, I think all teenagers are searching for identity. And my kids used to love telling people that I was born in Africa, and I grew up there when I was younger. And and sometimes they think, Well, I'm part African or something, not because I'm completely English. But what's really interesting is we're all searching for identity. So actually making it into a positive and giving her information about her heritage, that is a positive thing. That's not That's not oppositional to the culture that they I've moved into, but that

00:24:39.088 --> 00:24:42.118
actually, so is an addition for her it's,

00:24:42.778 --> 00:25:23.308
so let's say, let's say because I don't want to identify them and let's say the husband's French. And, you know, you could say all sorts of negative things about the French. You could also say they make the best baguettes in the world. You could say that, you know, like the cuisine has always been amazing. You know, whatever you want to do that picks out something It's wonderful about the French, you know, they came up with some of the best couture in the world, the haircut, you know. So what we want to do is we want to say, okay, there are negatives to the country I come from, but they're also some really wonderful things. And you're part of that, and handed down to your child as something they can be proud of that they can tell their friends, they can say, Oh, well, I'm, rather than being ashamed of it. Yeah.

00:25:23.309 --> 00:25:40.710
And maybe have a conversation with him or her as well, that you know, that they are. There's some stuff that they're struggling with Sarah, and I think that's a really good thing. Because she'll really understand that, you know, and then maybe there'll be more understanding for where some of the, you know, the more complicated feelings around it come from, because she'll be picking up on it.

00:25:40.890 --> 00:25:43.589
Yes, she will.

00:25:40.890 --> 00:25:52.559
And also that will make her her parents seem more sort of human and real. And I think often our kids look at the parents, and they're like, and they can see your own humanity,

00:25:52.650 --> 00:25:58.140
I'm struggling, I struggle with that part of my identity. And you know, what do you think kind of thing, I have a conversation around,

00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:25.019
I completely agree with you. And also just the fact that she is, so she's the oldest, but there are two siblings, and they're struggling to keep her in this private school. And I think one of the ways, so she's really angry, doesn't want to lead a school that they can't, they can't afford, it's too much of these schools are so expensive. And, you know, you could argue that there's huge benefits to it. I didn't go to a private school.

00:26:22.109 --> 00:26:36.839
And it's hard to switch from coming from privilege to not so I came to England, we had nothing. So we really became quite poor. And as a teenager, so I understand how that feels.

00:26:34.049 --> 00:26:47.220
But actually, it was the making of me. It was hard it was making. And I would regroup as a family and say, You know what, we've realized that actually, you're really important. But then so are your siblings. Yeah.

00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:54.599
And as a family unit, we can be stronger if we pull our resources in a different way and have conversations about it. And she

00:26:54.598 --> 00:27:00.058
wouldn't want the parents to be suffering because of it. I can explain it to you.

00:26:56.999 --> 00:27:00.058
This is a team. We're a team.

00:27:00.058 --> 00:27:07.318
You know, we're in a tea this is really not great for whoever's it's not grateful, though.

00:27:04.229 --> 00:27:08.308
She'll be she might resist, of course, but Yeah,

00:27:08.339 --> 00:27:10.200
she'll get it.

00:27:08.339 --> 00:27:24.119
And I love that gets it because I use that a lot at home, when I'm trying to get people to do chores and things like there's always, always talk about it as being in a team, because I think then they feel valued. They feel important, rather than being told they've got to do something, because that's when they start fighting back, isn't it? And it's

00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:26.400
really hard because we want the best for our kids.

00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:41.130
And it sounds like these parents, they absolutely want the best for her. So maybe it's really challenging for them to go. Do you know what, we can't do this anymore? Because they've made me feel like they're letting her down. Or they have a different narrative about what being a parent is. But you know, maybe

00:27:42.150 --> 00:28:15.599
that it's all it's all linked. It's all linked. And one of the other things she mentioned was that her daughter hangs out with some kids who seemingly have no manners. They don't greet her when they enter the house. They start eating before they've sat down. Sounds like lots of teenagers event. This is quite an English thing as well, because we've talked about this before when we talked about manners. They hadn't we were they sort of try and sneak around the back door. And in other countries, that would be completely verboten. I mean, France again, they have a very, very set routine for going into a house. So it's about expectations and having conversations. Yeah,

00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:22.170
absolutely. Are you saying it or just going up to the teens? That's what I do.

00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:22.170
Yeah. Hello? Yes. In the house?

00:28:22.230 --> 00:28:28.619
Yeah. And who are you? Yeah, my name is and they are always lovely after you've done that.

00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:29.640
Like, they just don't realize they just don't know. I

00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:36.839
think they don't teach them. Yes. And I actually think I actually think sometimes we look at these kids, we think, Oh, that's so rude.

00:28:34.349 --> 00:28:48.299
And they're sold. They're entitled, but actually, if you encourage them in and rather than thinking I need to teach them how to do this, you can say, hey, you know, how do you do things like that? Oh, well, we do it like this rudeness

00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:51.480
and awkwardness are often mistaken for each other.

00:28:52.049 --> 00:28:54.599
They're not angry. They're just, they just don't know what to do.

00:28:54.599 --> 00:28:56.160
And it's all a bit awkward. So

00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:58.049
you can just say, hey, come and say hello.

00:28:58.109 --> 00:29:00.119
And then you can go off and do that. And I know

00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:04.259
what, you just got to wait till everyone's got their plates. Is that alright?

00:29:02.069 --> 00:29:06.450
Do you mind? No, no, no, of course not. You know. Exactly.

00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:10.619
Just a gentle prompt rather than Yeah. Because it's hard. Otherwise, yeah. It

00:29:10.619 --> 00:29:19.950
can also be quite lonely being being foreign in another in another country sure, is super low show because you don't have the same antenna out.

00:29:17.250 --> 00:29:26.460
And for some people, it's lovely, and it will work and it's fine. But so you know, these parents, they need to cut themselves some slack as well.

00:29:26.460 --> 00:29:28.289
They sound like they're doing an amazing job

00:29:28.349 --> 00:29:30.779
that spot on.

00:29:28.349 --> 00:29:49.380
So I think this lady needs to give yourself a pat on the back for doing an amazing job. She does a day to day job that's very hard, and regroup as a family. Yeah. What do you think any other things? No. So if you want any more information, if you want to contact me, it's teenagers untangled@gmail.com.

00:29:45.869 --> 00:29:50.369
If you want to contact Suzy, what's your email address?

00:29:50.909 --> 00:29:58.048
Or my my website website is www dot a mindful hyphen life.co.uk You can find me on that.

00:29:58.349 --> 00:30:04.349
Perfect and if you want to sort of search Do any back episodes or anything?

00:30:00.089 --> 00:30:08.609
It's www.teenagersuntangled.com They're all on there. I've got a blog that I intermittently update. That's it for now.

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Nov. 27, 2024

115: Cancel culture. Bullying or bravery?

Send us a text The suicide of a young man at Oxford University has prompted a warning letter to the UK Government about 'cancel culture' on campus. The review into his death 'identified evidence of a concerning practice of so...

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