Ask Amy: My Tween Has Suddenly Stopped Speaking To Me
b'This week\'s question is from Stacey in our Facebook group:\\nMy 12 year old daughter, seemingly out of the blue, won\\u2019t talk to me or look at me.\\xa0I don\\u2019t mean talk like serious topics. I mean talk to me at all, about anything, unless I ask her a direct question.\\xa0\\nWe\\u2019ve always been close so I\\u2019m feeling very hurt. She acts fine with my husband.\\xa0\\nEverything I read is how we aren\\u2019t supposed to take it personally, that it\\u2019s normal but I\\u2019m finding that impossible, especially when she\\u2019s joking around with her dad.\\xa0\\nI keep reading I should just act like everything is fine but I really want to tell her she\\u2019s hurting my feelings.\\xa0Should I? \\nIt\'s a tween or teen\'s job to differentiate from their parents, to get ready to leave the nest. And if your relationship with your child was formerly very close\\u2013 as Stacey\'s was\\u2013 this separation by your teen can be even more swift and sudden, as well as way harder on the suddenly rejected parent.\\nAmy offers some tips on how Stacey might speak up for herself, some perspective on why this is happening, and some ways Stacey\'s spouse can help.\\nBeing the rejected parent can really sting. But your child\'s rejection means, above all, that you\'ve done a good enough job of loving her to make her feel safe stepping away from you, even temporarily.\\nIn this episode, Amy refers to Janet Lansbury\'s writing on this topic.\\nYou can hear more about all of this in our podcast episode "When Kids Prefer The Other Parent Over You": https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/2019/07/preferotherparent-ep115/\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'