behavior

How to Have Good Communication

May 2, 2020 by Gal Baras Leave a Comment

Couple having good communication over food

I think everyone wants to know how to have good communication. It’s the foundation of good relationships, family, romantic, social, work, etc. However, this is not something offered as a school subject, is it?

This post is my attempt at making good communication clear and simple. Make no mistake, it may not be easy, but it should be clear and simple. This way, if you decide to put in the effort to do it, at least you know where to aim.

Good communication always (always!) has 2 sides, which means that the steps outlined below are useful both when you talk and when you listen.

So let’s get into it.

Decoding Texting Slang Your Teen Uses Regularly

December 14, 2017 by Tyler Clark Leave a Comment

I remember a few years ago I was watching a news program and it offered a list to teach parents about decoding texting slang they claimed teens were using. Among some of the more colorful gems were:

– LHS – Let’s have sex

– IGTD – I got the drugs

– PIRDTAS – Parents in rooms don’t talk about stuff

– SMH – Satan makes me happy

These were so ludicrous that I have never forgotten them. Have you ever seen those used anywhere? Can you imagine your teen doing it? Of course not, it was so out of touch that I was sure it must have been a joke (spoiler: it wasn’t).

Slang is a normal part of communication, especially for young people as they assert their independence. Each generation has their own and in the digital era it is a little different than the “boss” and “sick”’s of our own decades.

The Most Narcissistic Generation: Which One Is It?

November 28, 2017 by Tyler Clark Leave a Comment

Not too long ago, I saw a Facebook comment on a George Takei post. A man from the Baby Boomer generation was going on a rant about the Narcissistic Generation & Millennials and how they were useless, lazy, didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t have real jobs, didn’t buy houses and more. It was quite a list of sins.

One particular thing which stuck out to me was his vehement claim of narcissism. This online stranger claims that millennials are selfish, self-absorbed narcissists.

Narcissistic Generation or a Value-Shift?

I don’t normally engage with random people on the web; however, his passionate rant rubbed me the wrong way.

The Dynamics Of Trust Between Parents and Teens

August 16, 2017 by Tyler Clark Leave a Comment

Building teen trust can be hard at times. Your teenagers are experiencing a transitional stage of life, enjoying more freedom than they had during childhood, and the taste of freedom can be addictive. As the parent, you place a certain amount of trust in your teen, hoping they will not abuse their freedom. But sometimes poor choices are made and that trust is broken.

I understand dealing with the shifting dynamics of trust between parents and teens can be difficult. As I have advised many parents of troubled teens, I have compiled some advice for you parents out there who are struggling with trusting your own teens.

5 Hot Topics for Parents in 2017

August 10, 2017 by Gal Baras Leave a Comment

Parents and young daughter walking hand in hand

Being a parent is not easy and this is especially true in the age of social media, smart phones and the Internet. More than ever, parents need to monitor their children and what they are looking at online. Plus, there is the added challenge of talking to kids of all ages about gender roles and discipline in the home.

Eric Gati, the founder of CynicalParent.com, has published the results of a new study that touches on the above subjects. Gati says he “learned a lot in this study, like the fact that there are more than a handful of very common fears that parents have about their kids using smartphones and social media, either from too young of an age or for too many hours per day. We also learned that 98% of parents find it important to monitor this, we were amazed at how conscious parents are of the inherent risks of social media”.

5 Comebacks to Floor Your Brat Teenager

March 23, 2017 by Tyler Clark Leave a Comment

If you are the parent of a teenager, you’ve probably been asked to “Leave me alone!” — but only after you drop them off at the mall and buy them the latest iPhone. Yep, get used to being to being despised.

As hard as parenting emotional teenagers can be, staying present and keeping the lines of communication free flowing is crucial. A study by the Council of Economic Advisers found that teens who reported not feeling close to their parents were more likely to smoke, drink, abuse drugs and engage in sexual behavior. Yikes! Guess we better figure this thing out.

One of the keys to parenting teenagers with sanity in tact is humor. Laughing about the struggle will not only bring you much-needed stress relief, it will lighten up the whole situation. And if you are looking for ways to laugh your way through the treacherous teenage years, having a repertoire of comebacks is just the thing. Here are six one-liners that will take your teen off guard and might even elicit a laugh or two.

How to get ahead at work by being smart about things

September 9, 2016 by Sam Jones Leave a Comment

The age old question of how to progress or get promoted at work. The answer is different for any company, but we can tell you what the answer certainly isn’t. Tripping up others is not a good way to get ahead at work. Even if you temporarily succeed, the chances are you will bite off more than you can chew which will eventually become blaringly obvious.

Be smart about things. Think outside the box. Genuinely invest yourself in the company and keep an eye out for things that could benefit your workplace.

Starve Your Anger

October 11, 2010 by Ronit Baras Leave a Comment

On my moms’ refrigerator, there is a quote. My older sister put it there many years ago and it stayed. Every time I visit my parents and open the refrigerator, I read it. It says:

“When you get angry, you punish yourself for other people’s stupidity”

I remember myself being very angry as a kid (surprisingly, this was before my teen years). Life just did not work the way I wanted it to work – people did not behave the way I expected them and my actions did not get me where I wanted to be. Life pretty much sucked (I hope it is OK to say “sucked” in a post, because it explains how I felt perfectly).

It took me a while to understand what this quote meant, but when I did, a huge, heavy load came off my young shoulders. Realizing that anger was a poison I was carrying with me was a big revelation – scary, but very relieving. My life has been much happier since.

Hidden Agenda

October 20, 2009 by Gal Baras 1 Comment

Man shaking another person's hand over coffee

The world is full of different people, with whom we have relationships of varying closeness and intimacy. More often than not, we find ourselves in conversation with someone wanting to say something, but saying something completely different, because saying what we think would produce the wrong results. This even happens with our partner sometimes, not to mention the kids.

Criticism No More

October 1, 2009 by Gal Baras Leave a Comment

Absolutely everybody receives some criticism in life. Some of us have the misfortune of growing up with critical parents, while others bump into their first critic at school, but we all have to face criticism at some point, right?

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