CLEVELAND — The Valentine's Day flowers are still fresh and love is still on the brain for many of us. If you have teenagers in the house, you may be dealing with first crushes and relationships. In today's Mom Squad, 3News' Maureen Kyle talks with Hanna Perkins Psychologist Dr. Kim Bell about how to navigate being a supportive parent during the relationship and when it ends.
“The biggest mistake that people tend to make is they don't like to see their kids in pain,” Bell says. “They don't like to see their kid suffering and so they try to minimize it. And that's where the mistake comes in because you lose that feeling touch with your child when you try to minimize it: ‘Oh it was only a week. It was only two months. It was only this, it was only that.' Because you're trying desperately to fix, handle and change the problem.”
Bell says this minimizing will make your teen shut down and not communicate their feelings.
“Their first heartbreak is potentially the end of a friendship, which can hurt just as much as a romantic relationship. And so any of those losses, heartbreaks, relationships that don't work out, regardless of the level of intimacy or romantic love, all teach us something about ourselves and how we deal with being alone.”
In this podcast, Maureen also talks to 3News' Danielle Wiggins and Austin Love about what they wish they would have known as a teen and how their parent’s advice impacted their relationships.
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