Studies Revealed Surprising Similarities
If you’re familiar with some of my work, you’ll realize this is what my husband, Jeff, and I told men about their wives in For Men Only! Most women need to have their feelings heard before being interested in working on a solution, so I wasn’t surprised when teenage girls had the same need—but I was very surprised that teenage boys did! In fact, eight out of 10 kids we interviewed—both boys and girls—said that, before jumping in to fix a problem, they first needed their parents to hear, acknowledge and tend to the emotions behind the problem. And if that didn’t happen, angst grew—and emotion and drama accelerated.
We’re not sure exactly when boys grow into men who don’t care as much about having their feelings heard and who say (in nice deep voices), “Just tell me how to fix it.” But at least through age 17, they still need the same feelings-oriented response as girls.
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