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Episode 16: Teenager Talk and Self-Awareness

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Things teenager wants to know (but are too afraid to ask) #1: How did you put up with our teenage years?

How do you pull a teenager out of their avid and dramatic introspection ("the whole world is against me, no one understands me!") and into understanding their place in the world, their impact on others and what's really going on is just inside their own heads.

“How do you communicate with a teenager?”
 
“How am I going to survive my kids’ teenage years?”
 
“How am I going to keep a relationship going with my kids once they hit their teens?”
 
For some reason, these questions have been coming at me lately and having survived four lots of teenage years (five, including my own!), I’ve got a fair bit of experience at this.
 
I’m not for one minute suggesting I’m an expert, mind, I just have opinions and approximately 25 years’ worth of trying to stay sane while my kids’ sanities were completely AWOL.
Teenager Talk and Self-Awareness

To give an interesting perspective on this, I thought I’d have a few conversations with my kids on how they survived their teenage years, how the world (and my parenting in particular) looked from their perspective, and what they thought of the whole teenage years’ experience.

In this episode, I talk to Ryan about how I pulled teenagers out of their avid and dramatic introspection (“the whole world is against me, no one understands me!”) and into understanding their place in the world, their impact on others and what’s really going on is just inside their own heads.
 
And funnily enough, yes, other people actually do understand them because anyone older than them has been through the whole teenage thing themselves.
 
Let me know if you enjoy it and what your thoughts are on the topic, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

In this episode, I talk to Ryan about how I pulled teenagers out of their avid and dramatic introspection and into understanding their place in the world.

Menopause, Marriage and Motherhood

About Today’s Guest Ryan O'Connor

Actor, Director, Playwright

Self-awareness isn't just about how you feel. It's about how you are in relation to others.

Ryan J O’Connor is a Geelong-based writer of original, alternative plays and prose.

He’s the co-founder and executive director of Someone New Theatre Company, the winner of the 2019 Grace Marion Wilson Trust Award for Playwriting, and an acclaimed actor and director throughout NSW and Victoria.

Menopause, Marriage and Motherhood

He is also an excellent baker, a trained stage-combatist, a terrible gardener, and a moderately talented poker player.

He does his best writing while trying to avoid his responsibilities, but loves to tell ‘alternative’ stories: romantic comedies about Death, coming-of-age stories about old men, and science-fiction tales about mythological creatures, just to name a few.

Connect with Ryan:

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Menopause, Marriage and Motherhood

Ryan O'Connor

@therealryanoconnor