The other day my teenage daughter
casually asked me out of the blue if I had any errands that I needed her to run
for me. Seeing how she doesn't have her
own car and would need to use my car, and also given the fact that she rarely
offers this wonderful service, I found it a little strange and out of the
ordinary for her. When I told her that I didn't have
any errands for her to run, she hemmed and hawed a bit and then eventually
dropped the subject.
A short time later she came back to
me and asked if she could use my car to go do something with her friends. It was at that point that I realized how she
was earlier trying to manipulate me into using my car for her own
interests. While this isn't the biggest
or most disappointing thing in the world for her to try and pull over on me, it
did frustrate me a little and got me thinking about how frequently teens try to
manipulate parents. Sometimes this manipulation is for fairly innocent things
(like using a car), while at other times it can be for things of a more serious
and possibly detrimental nature.
As a parent, always being able to
recognize and be aware of manipulation can be challenging. Even more challenging at times, is knowing
what to do about it and how to handle it when it does occur. The following is an article that I stumbled
across awhile back with some helpful tips and pointers for dealing with
manipulation from our children. I hope
you find it helpful!
