When did your chatty preschooler morph into a distant, non-communicative tween? DR RICHARD C. WOOLFSON offers ways to cope.
Your tween used to be very chatty when he was a preschooler – he would talk to you non-stop about anything and everything.
In those earlier years, he was delighted to share his news with you, and he was ready to listen to your advice.
But now he is less open and mumbles grudgingly at you. His standard reply to every question is either “OK”, “No”, or “I don’t know”, and you are left wondering what happened to make him change.
When a child reaches this stage, a number of things happen. First, he develops a stronger sense of self, a greater realisation that he is an independent young person with his own ideas and values.
He begins to challenge your views, not because he wants to antagonise you but because he wants to explore his own alternatives, and one of this transition’s side effects is his reluctance to be so open with you.
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