Number one:
Both of you want to be there in the conversation. Many times when you are talking to your teen about something serious they are looking ion the other direction, fidgeting around, or doing other things that you know means they do not want to be there because they do not want to hear what it is you are talking about. There are even times where you do not want to be having the conversation with your teenager. This can be because you are having the same conversation for the tenth time or it is something that you do not feel comfortable talking about. No matter what the case when both of you want to be there, even if it is a tough issue, that shows you are having a respectful conversation with your teen because you are both wanting to talk about what is going on and convey your feelings to one another.

Number two:
When you are having respectful conversation with your teen, you are going to be using your active listening skills. Most often, when you are listening to your teen, you are not really listening to them. One of the best ways to tell that you are using your active listening skills is to make sure that you are paying attention to what they are staying and hearing what they are saying. Rather than thinking about what you are going to be cooking for dinner or what your next response is going to be to what they have said. The only thing that you should be focusing on is what your teen is saying to you. If using your active listening skills your teen should be responding to those skills, by being open and honest with what they are talking about.

Number three:
Many times when you are talking to your teen the conversation is going to get heated because you simply do not see eye to eye with your teen, nor do they see eye to eye with you. Even if your conversation does get heated, it is important that you watch the tone that you are using with your teen. You do not want to have a tone with them that implies you are right and they are wrong just because you are the adult because that makes your teen think that, you do not care about them. Instead, what you want to do is use a tone of voice that says you care about your teen a lot, which is why you feel it is important to say what you are saying.

Number four:
You have no problem allowing your teen to have a different point of view than you. Many parents have a hard time figuring out that their teen is old enough to develop their own viewpoint on certain things, mostly because they do not want to admit that their teen is growing up. You need to learn to let your teen have their own opinion and respect it, even if it does not match your opinion. You also need to not force them to agree with your opinion by dragging the conversation on, as if it were a debate.

Number five:
If your teen has something that they do not want to share, meaning something that they want to keep private, you are able to back off. You are not making them tell you what they are hiding or keeping private, you are respecting their wishes.