“Season your conversations with …”

Part of an occasional series about phrases that this therapist finds himself repeating, often.

Photo by Victoria Zakharchuk on Unsplash

As a clinician in private practice, a phrase that I hear myself repeating often is “Season your conversations with …”. This phrase arises as a reminder to parents that direct conversation can feel challenging to children and adolescents, especially around subjects like sex, trauma, or conflict/divorce. Even for some of us adults, these subjects are fraught!

So like seasoning in a recipe, you want to practice using enough that there is a noticeable flavor, but not so much that it overpowers.

Photo by Tobias Weinhold on Unsplash

Conversations can be best when they happen alongside.

Many parental conversations happen in the car going from this activity to that activity. The reason for this is that it is easier to focus on the road than to look at each other, especially when a difficult subject may arise.