Talking with Your Parents and Family
You may just need help relating to your parents or you may need to talk to them about something difficult. Either way, follow the listed guidelines - they'll come in handy at times.
Guidelines
- Find a time that you and your parents can be comfortable and relaxed together.
- Make sure no one is focusing on something else while you're together (paying bills, playing Playstation, making dinner, watching TV).
- These first two steps might take some effort and patience. Be persistent!
- If you just want to shoot the breeze, try to bring up something they're interested in.
- Ask them questions about their day (they love this!).
- If you have something specific you want to talk about, let them know what it is.
- If they react to what you tell them, listen to them. Don't react back!
- Let them finish and don't interrupt. Ask them to do the same for you.
- When you feel like you've told them what you wanted to, thank them for listening.
- If you feel like there are still things that need to be talked about, set up a time with them to talk about it another day.
Tips
- Show them respect by focusing your attention on the conversation, looking them in the eyes, and by not being sarcastic or rolling your eyes.
- Be honest. Honesty builds trust. And life is good when your parents trust you.
- Stay cool. If you can stay calm if things get heated up, you're showing them maturity.
Friends
To make friends, you need to be a friend. To make good friends, you need to be a good friend.
Good friends are:
- People who accept you as who you are.
- Sincere.
- Good at giving genuine compliments and comments.
- Go around with a pleasant expression on their face.
- Kind, friendly, positive.
- Offer to help.
They say that if you have one true friend, you are lucky, but how does one make friends? We want to know other people and have them know us, to share experiences and closeness.
It is easier than it may seem; it is a continual process, not a one time experience. One must be honest, helpful, caring, pleasant and above all, friendly. Some people are shy and need to be brought out, others are simply waiting for the knock on the door. It is good to be more out-going. Smile, say "hi", introduce yourself. If you want to be heard, be willing to listen and learn about the other person.
Want a friend? Be a friend.
Depression Signs
- Long periods of inactivity.
- Poor personal hygiene.
- Separate themselves from others - isolative.
- Loss of appetite.
- Often cries for no apparent reason.
- Often talks about feeling worthless and helpless.
- Describes troubled sleep patterns.
- Speech changes - rambling, unsuitable answers, rapidly changing topics, pressured speech, incoherent, word salads.