Teens Coping with Difficult Emotions:
Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me. ~ Childhood rhyme
Whoever made up that rhyme is just plain wrong. Consider these comments from letters to Psych Central’s “Ask the Therapist” column:
- “No matter what I do, my parents criticize me. I get good grades. I help out at home. My girlfriend is polite to them. But I can never do things enough right for them.” –17-year-old boy
- “I think my mom is depressed. She stays in bed all the time. She expects me to clean house, cook dinner every night, take care of my little sister, and bring her whatever she wants. She’s not a bit grateful. Actually, she complains about me to my grandmother and to my dad. Then they yell at me too. I don’t think I can take it much longer.” – 16-year-old boy
These overwhelming emotions of anguish and bewilderment in these kids’ voices is heartbreaking. Some of the letters are full with anger. Most are testaments to the pain of feeling a lack of love by the very people who the whole world tells you should love you. Your parents and extended family.
The teens who write are essentially good kids who are doing all they can to do okay in school and contribute at home. They try to please their folks. They often do far more in the way of housework and child care than is reasonable to expect. All they want is for their folks to love them but all indications are they don’t. These kids want an explanation. They want to make it right. They wish and hope and dream that there is something they can do to make it different. READ MORE