What Do You Do When Your Kid Won’t Talk To You?

Isn't this an awesome idea?

I drive carpool as much as I can. I learn much about my kids and their friends as “chauffeur.” Have you noticed they forget that you’re there? I’ve heard sweet moments of encouragement and plenty of teen snark. During one drive, my 12-year-old and her buddy were chatting about the day, and I overheard the friend nonchalantly ask my daughter about her boyfriend. Say what? I don’t know about any boyfriend … my sixth grader!?

Of course I wanted to pull over RIGHT THAT MINUTE and TALK. THIS. THROUGH. To look her in the eyes and ask why I don’t know about this boy and explain just how I felt about the whole thing. But after a deep breath, it dawned on me that maybe confrontation was not ideal. AND, thanks to some good advice, I had something in my bedside table to help me out.

Earlier that year, my amazing friend Mercedes let our daughters choose their favorite journal from Hallmark and suggested to me that we — the moms and daughters — begin writing each other. I was convinced that this was just one more great Pinterest idea that I would not follow through with and feel guilty about when I saw the empty book lying around. But, she is a persuasive friend and hey, she bought the book!

In an effort to cheat the inevitable “I don’t want to talk to my mom” stage, my daughter and I began to engage in written dialogue — just in case — expecting that our face-to-face dynamic would become uncomfortable sometimes. We were prompted by the trusty Internet to start with a few innocuous questions to get our conversation going.

You can read more about her idea on Babble. When you're finished, leave a comment and share your thoughts.