Learning to Communicate Love

How does your teen communicate love?

Is it just us, or do your teens have trouble communicating love? When our girls want attention, they don't know how to ask for it. One of them will want a hug, but the other doesn’t. Wait a couple of hours later, and the roles reverse. Instead of asking for a hug, they tease, poke, pester, and throw things at each other. (Unfortunately they learned from my example.)

When this happens, it can easily escalate into conflict. So we intervene, giving the one who is pestering a long hug. We’ve read that a hug that lasts more than 20 seconds will release happy endorphins and cause them to settle down and stop bugging someone for attention.

What non-verbal ways do your kids express a need for attention? What are you ready to do to fill that need?