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Thoughts about teens, tweens, parenting and this adventure of living on Earth in the 21st century.

Annie Fox, M.Ed., is an internationally respected parenting expert, award-winning author, and a trusted online adviser for tweens and teens.

Podcast: Talking with your kids so they’ll listen and open up

September 19, 2010

David McQueen

David McQueen, The Dave Mack Project

You don’t need me to tell you the road gets plenty rough during the teen years, for them and for us. 21st century parents frequently miss opportunities to take the lead and maintain meaningful connections with their tweens and teens. Of course, it’s not all our fault. Teens don’t encourage dialogue, at least not with us! But we can only change ourselves and we need to do a better job when it comes to really listening and trying to understand what’s going on with the young people we love most in the world. Because the lessons of intimacy we teach at home help our kids grow into adults with the confidence to discover who they ought to be.

When we miss those opportunities to connect, it’s not because we don’t care, it’s just that all of us (the kids too) are too busy to check in with each other. Sometimes reminders are needed.

My guest today is David McQueen and he’s here to provide some reminders. David is an educator, international speaker, and blogger extraordinaire. He empowers adults and youth alike on subjects such as leadership, careers and communication skills. Dave is also the founder of The Dave Mack Project, a teen empowerment movement that combines speaking, live events, social media and youth coaching for teens and those who work with teens.

For the last 22 years, Dave McQueen has reached over a million teenagers through  live speaking and workshops, on TV and online, with messages of empowerment about inhabiting the present and creating a brilliant future.

Listen to our conversation right here:

[QUICKTIME http://www.anniefox.com/podcast/FC020.m4a 300 300 false true]

If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to this podcast in the iTunes Store.

Or, you can download an MP3 version here.

Upcoming guests include:

Ronit Baras, author of Be Special, Be Yourself for Teenagers

Sean Buvala, author of DaddyTeller: How to be a Hero to Your Kids and Teach Them What’s Really Important By Telling Them One Simple Story at a Time

Dr. Karyn Purvis, co-author (with Dr. David Cross, Wendy Lyons Sunshine) of The Connected Child: Bring hope and healing to your adoptive family

Judith Warner, author of Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety and We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication

Katherine Ellison, author of the memoir, Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention

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1 Comment »

  1. Annie – thanks for the great reminder! Hubs and I have found ourselves recently in the early tween life with our oldest daughter who’s almost 9. I found a few books that I love and continually go back to ever since I adopted her from foster care 5 years ago. My favorite is How to Talk so Your Kids Will Listen and Listen So Your Kids Will Talk! So invaluable to keep my brain focused on what you shared above.

    Really enjoying your resources. Looking forward to more.

    Comment by Laurie @mylivingpower — September 29, 2010 @ 8:45 pm

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