How to Talk to Teens About Difficult News

More interesting. We'll get back to you guys in just a moment, but we're going to talk this morning about teenagers. We know they are constantly exposed to difficult news from television to social media, but how can parents help them make sense of what's happening without increasing their fears? Joining us live in studio this morning is Dr. Kim Caswell as an adolescent psychologist to share some tips on starting these important conversations and supporting teenagers through some of these challenging times. It is so good to have you. Thanks for having me. You're so welcome. All right. So we were just talking about how information is everywhere, especially with teenagers. A lot of them are on social media and YouTube and they're picking up what's going on out there. So for starters, how can parents start the conversation about some of the really difficult topics? Yeah. And this is everyone's asked me this because it's so stressful and you're like, how much do you tell your kids? Yeah. Where do you start? So the first place to start is assuming they know something because most of them do ask them first what they know what have they heard what have kids been talking about in school this gives you a baseline of what they need to know because now you know how much they know what they've got correct and what they might we might need to to talk about and correct yeah that's such a great way to approach the conversation before you just dive in and you're telling all these details and they're like oh exactly it can be a lot all at once yeah so how do you know how much to share and what to leave out and why? Yeah. So I would start by filling in the blanks. If they've said things and you're like, okay, there's pieces of this story they're not saying, or there's pieces I think they have incorrect. But here's where a lot of parents make the mistake. We start telling them the information and saying, this is what it is. Don't say, oh, I heard something different. Let's go research it. Let's go look at the actual answer. This is teaching the media literacy at the same time. Not I'm trying to convince you I'm right, but let's go see what other people say and check at different sources and see what that's like. I like that as well. Now, when it comes to, now they know the information you've asked, they told you, you filled in the blanks. How do you prevent them from having anxiety about what they've learned about it? Yeah, this is a big thing too. And I like to focus less on blaming the other people and here's what happened in the victimization of the other people and more about what do we do? What can we do as a family? What can you do as a person? If you were in a similar situation what could you do if you saw something happening what could you do how can we show up in the world now I feel empowered and that's a lot different than just feeling anxious and also as part of that process what can we as a family do but also during that time you can sort of reinforce those family values as well and that can be a big piece to this this is an enormous piece because a lot of times we don't talk about these things at all they just don't come up so now all of a sudden this is a time to say what do we believe as a family what is our value and here's what's even more important we don't just tell them we live it and now i'm going to be very intentional on how i'm showing up how i'm talking about things how i'm interacting with people to show our kids our values that's how they learn them such a great uh roadmap i'd say for tackling these issues when it comes to just body language right i think the dinner table is a really good place to start when it comes to everyone just unwinding and just really getting a feel for how the day went what should parents look out for when it comes to some of those behaviors or maybe something they're not saying even though they are communicating to tell us that something is bothering them yeah a lot of times teenagers particularly when we do this they will shut down they feel a little bit under the spotlight so one of the best ways is when you're side by side with them you're in the car you're on the couch you're just talking something comes up on TV and you go, oh, what do you think about that? Right. Or something comes up and you're listening to a podcast. Oh, I've heard about this. What do you think about that? Or what do teens today think about this and stuff, what do you because that makes it feel a little less threatening. These are such great tips. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for your time. For anyone who wants to learn more from you or just follow along, where can they go? Instagram at Dr. Cam Caswell. I am there all the time or my website, askdrcam.com. Wonderful. All right. Dr. Cam, thanks so much again for stopping by. We appreciate you. Thanks for having me. You're welcome. All right, Jacqueline, I want to hear what you're working on. All right, Makia, well, getting stronger after 40 is about