Teenagers seem to appear overnight, taking over what was once your sweet little daughter. She no longer dotes on you and wants to spend all of her time with you, and instead, she retreats, avoids you, and rather closes herself in her room.
While this is common behavior from a teenager, there are some times where there can be more to it, and as a parent, you want to make sure that you aren’t missing any red flags coming from your teenage daughter.
If your teenage daughter doesn’t want to spend time with you anymore, keep reading to find out what to do, and how you can encourage her to spend more time with you again.
Need Extra Help?
You don’t have to wait until things get worse and hit rock bottom. If you are serious about helping your teen and create a stronger relationship during these challenging years, take a second to look into Teen Counseling online.
Teen Counseling offers licensed therapists who specialize in teen counseling and will work directly with you and your daughter/son online; anytime and from anywhere.
Just read this review that perfectly sums up what they can do for you:
“Jennifer has made a big difference in the life of our teenage daughter! We immediately saw a change in our daughter’s attitude when we put into practice Jennifer’s recommendations with regards to the way we as parents interact with our daughter. Thank you Jennifer!”
Serious about helping and improving your relationship with your teen?
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Should You Force Family Time On A Teenager?
It can be so hard to get your teen to spend time with you, but it is really something that you should put effort into. No matter how much pushback you might get from them.
The childhood years go by so fast, and the teen years fly by just as fast. The difference is that once the teen years are done, you will most likely find yourself with an empty nest, and connecting with your child becomes that much more difficult.
As your child turns into a teen, they spend more time at school, more time with friends, and more time out.
This means less time at home with the family, and family time becomes quite rare.
Now more than ever, it is important to make an effort to have family time with everyone involved. One-on-one time is also great, but the whole family needs to feel connected as a whole.
This can be quite an uphill battle with a teenager who just does not want to spend time with the family, but you will be so thankful that you encouraged family time once they are ready to leave home!
How To Get Your Teenage Daughter To Spend Time With You
Convincing your teenage daughter to spend time with you might seem impossible, but with perseverance and some patience, the two of you can reconnect.
While your relationship might be different from what it was when she was younger, it can still be special and meaningful.
Here are some ways to get your teenage daughter to spend time with you and to help her to enjoy family time again…
Plan Activities And Family Time
It is a good idea to plan activities and family time well in advance, so your teenage daughter can’t get out of them by saying she has something on that day.
Let her know about a family activity taking places, such as a family picnic or hike two weeks from now. Ask her what day and time suits her best, and get everyone to put it down on the calendar.
Your daughter will be at the stage where she is making her own plans, and not relying on you to plan playdates, so you do have to be fair and take this into account.
Also, asking her what day and time suits her shows that you respect her independence, but it still shows that you expect her to show up for family time.
Have A List Of Non-Negotiables
To make it easier for everyone, and to ensure that you and your daughter are on the same page, you should have a list of non-negotiables.
These are family plans that they cannot opt-out of, that you prioritize for them to attend.
Along with this, to make it fair, you need to have negotiables so that they have the freedom to choose whether or not to attend certain events.
If it is a family lunch or a birthday, you might deem that non-negotiable, but if it is a siblings sports game or breakfast date, they can choose whether to attend that or not.
Having a list of negotiables and non-negotiables gives your daughter the freedom and responsibility to choose what she attends some of the time, but also sets your expectations out clearly and she will know what is expected of her and what she is obligated to attend.
This means more family time with less arguing when planning!
Do Things Your Daughter Enjoys
Your daughter is a teenager now, and what she now enjoys might be different from what she enjoyed doing with you a few years ago.
You will need to get to know what your daughter enjoys and plan things together that suits this.
She will be much more likely to want to spend time with you if you have some fun activities planned.
This could be going shopping, watching a movie, having your nails done, or even going for a hike if she loves the outdoors.
Your daughter will also be much more likely to open up to you about her life and what is going on (which can be so difficult for teens) when she is happy and enjoying her time with you.
Planning activities that she enjoys (and hopefully you as well) will allow you two to bond again and hopefully, this leads to more time being spent together going forward.
Why Spending Time With Your Teenage Daughter Is Important
It can be so easy to just throw your hands up in the air and give up trying to force your teenage daughter into family time, but no matter how hard it is, you need to persist.
Both you and your daughter can benefit from time together.
It gives you the opportunity to speak to your daughter and try to find out if there are any problems or issues in their life that you might not know about.
Teenagers go through a lot, so having open communication with your daughter is so important.
It also gives your daughter the opportunity to feel open and connected with you, and hopefully, this encourages her to approach you with any problems she might be facing.
Nurturing the connection with your teenage daughter is so important, no matter how many walls she might put up.
Need Extra Help?
If you feel like you have hit rock bottom are serious about fixing your relationship with your teenager, take a second to look into Teen Counseling.
They offer licensed therapists who specialize in teen counseling and will work directly with you and your daughter/son online; anytime and from anywhere.
Serious about saving or improving your relationship?
CLICK HERE to see if Teen Counseling is right for you.
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