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When Your Teen Triggers You

podcast May 02, 2023

This is Going to Be FUN: the Podcast

Episode 45: When Your Teen Triggers You

  

Episode Summary:

When Your Teen Triggers You

Does your teen's behavior ever trigger you? Your anger level goes fom 0 to 100 in an instant?

You need to know the real reason you are getting triggered - and it isn't your teen's behavior.

Learn the three magic questions that will help you figure out the real trigger so you can make rational decisions instead of just flying off the handle.

With the answers to these questions you will know if you need to set some clear expectations with your teen or if there are some adjustments you want to make in your parenting.

Either way, sweet relief is on the way!

 

What are your triggers?

We’ve all been there. Your teen says or does something that just sets you off. You can usually keep your cool, but THIS sets you off every time. 

  • Playing games on their phone when you have asked them to do something.
  • Fighting with their siblings.
  • Slamming their bedroom door. 
  • Leaving their shoes in the middle of the entryway so you can’t open the door. 

Every.single.time it happens, your anger goes from 0-100 instantly and you feel a flood of negative emotion. And then, if you are like most parents, you blow up at your teen and then feel bad for losing your cool afterward (even if they did deserve it because you have talked about this a million times already). And often it is just normal teen behavior that sends you spiraling.

Here’s the thing though. It isn’t your teen’s behavior that triggers you. 

The REAL reason you get triggered

If it isn’t your teen’s behavior that is triggering you, what is it? 

The meaning you are giving to your teen’s behavior. 

It happens in an instant, so you might not even realize how much meaning you are giving to your teen’s behavior. They do something, you have thoughts about how terrible it is and then you feel the flood of negative emotion.

Slow things down to find the meaning

If you notice that there are certain things your teen does that seem to set you off every single time, you can slow it down and figure out what you are making it mean by asking these 3 simple questions about your child’s behavior. 

3 Questions to Decode Your Triggers

What are you making this mean about your child? 

The answer to this question is almost always a list of adjectives and negative labels. It sounds like, “They are so irresponsible/lazy/rude/selfish/disrespectful.”

What are you making this mean about your child’s future? 

Of course we want our kids to have the best possible future. Everything we do is an attempt to set them up for future success. But because of that, we often make their current behavior mean something terrible about their future behavior. The answer to this question is usually based in fear about their future. It sounds like, “Now they will never…”

What are you making this mean about you as a mom? 

The answer to this question usually boils down to some version of “I am a bad mom”. We use our child’s behavior as evidence that we have done something wrong and this is our fault. It often sounds like, “I should..” or “I should have…”

What to do with the answers

Once you know the answers to these questions, you have some data to help you make informed decisions so you don’t have to keep getting triggered. 

Question whether they are true

When your teen keeps playing on their phone when you ask them for help, you might think they are lazy – but is that true? Is there any evidence that they aren’t lazy?

Maybe they are actually really hard-working and they are sitting on the couch ignoring you because they just got home from a sports practice and they are exhausted. Or maybe they just didn’t hear you because they have their headphones in. Maybe it is just normal teen behavior?

Maybe you get triggered when your teen gets any grade that is less than an A. Your family placed a lot of emphasis on grades growing up and always expected you to get A’s, so you have the same expectation for your kids.

It is worth questioning whether you want to keep believing that A’s are the only acceptable grade. Maybe you will want to keep believing it, but maybe it is just creating friction in your relationship and you can drop that belief.

Our brains offer us a lot of information – but not all of it is accurate! When you notice the inaccurate stuff, you stop believing everything your brain says and you feel a LOT better. (Remember…your brain is a drama queen!) 

Address the legitimate concerns

Not everything your brain tells you is wrong, though. Sometimes it brings up some valid concerns. If your teen slams their bedroom door so hard that it shakes the whole house and breaks stuff, thinking “they are going to break stuff” is a valid concern.

So what do you want to do about it? Do you want to establish some expectations and consequences around slamming doors? Do you want to put a bumper on the door so they can’t slam it?

Slowing down and asking these questions gives you data to be able to make those decisions rationally instead of just reacting in the moment. 

Make needed improvements

You are not a bad mom. That is just a straight up lie. But you can learn a lot from what you make your teen’s behavior mean about you.

Do you want to make some adjustments? Are there things you want to do differently as a mom? Are there past mistakes that you are holding against yourself?

Beating yourself up for past mistakes is not going to make you a better mom. It is going to cause you to keep getting triggered over and over again and reacting in a way that makes you feel even worse. You did the best you could with what you had. Forgive yourself and move on. 

These three questions will give you so much insight into why you are getting triggered and what you can do about it, but sometimes it is hard to figure out the answers on your own. If you need help, schedule a parenting strategy session with me and I will help you work through one of YOUR triggers so you can find some relief! 

 

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