Reprinted from The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make by arrangement with Fireside Books, a member of Simon & Schuster, Inc., Copyright (c) 2007 by Sean Covey.
The following excerpt is from Sean Covey’s important new book for teenagers, giving them a guide to the most important choices in their lives. In this chapter, Covey talks to teens about their parents.
Closing the Gap
“Haven’t you heard of knocking?” Natasha complains as her mom enters her bedroom.
“You need to clean up your room, Natasha. This is ridiculous.”
“I’ll get to it later, Mom. I’m busy right now.”
“No, you do it now.”
“This is my room, Mom. I’ll clean it up. Just give me a few minutes. And don’t barge into my room anymore without knocking.”
“This is my house. So don’t start telling me what I can or can’t do in my own house.”
“Yeah, but this is my room, and I need my privacy.”
“You’re not getting any privacy until your room’s clean. So let’s get movin’.”
“Ucht, Mom. PLEASE just get out.”
Do you ever feel like you and your parents speak different languages? Well, you do. Sort of. You see, while you worry about what your friends are going to say about your new haircut, they worry about how they’re going to pay the bills. You and your parents see life through a different pair of glasses. You say one thing and your parents hear something else. Or vice versa.
Vic Casera 07/12/08
The advice here is kind of common sense. At first I thought, this is not helpful. But the picture of the sax player/girl was really brilliant. And I tried it on my daughter and it worked!
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