Salma Prabhu

TEENAGERS AND LOCKDOWN When my earlier posts reached across, many parents wrote to me asking for some guidelines to handle teenagers especially when the lockdown got extended. The very two words do not go together that is teenage and lockdown in other words curfew. The word curfew for a teenager is associated with punishment and their brain would take a while to accept that this is for containment and not punishment. No doubt it is a challenge for the parents to first deal with their own schedules and the great challenges emerged out of this lockdown and this can have a double whammy  if there is or are teenagers who are experiencing frustration as well. It is a well known and researched conclusion that our frustrations come out on our lives ones and in the cas of the teenagers it is their parents. Instead of getting worked up and falling into the arguing and fighting mode, let us get into the solution and harmony mode. As parents, you first need to accept what they a...

FAMILY NEEDS LISTENING SKILLS AND LESS ADVICE Since the first lock down we have completed a week now and everyone is doing great as of now. Well almost everyone. We have a day to look forward to and everyone is dreaming about resuming to their normal lives. Like resuming work, resuming shopping, walks, gyms etc. At the same time there is an apprehension that God knows how much time it will take. All the above leads to a lot of anxiety and worry and during this time it is quite possible that tempers flare, misunderstandings happen, harsh words are spoken then regretted. In this scenario, What is required is more of listening and less of advising. In the next week or after that the joy of being together at home and doing things together may start to wear off. While some family members may feel that it is good to have everyone home, some may feel that their sanctity has been disturbed. Children who are happy to see their parents home may start feeling the brunt of too many advice...