July/August 2025 HAWAII PARENT 115 So how do you stay connected when your teen seems to be pushing you away? How do you avoid making things worse? It’s about presence, not perfection. Let’s name what’s happening. An eye roll looks like disrespect. A slammed door feels like rejection. A sarcastic comment stings. Beneath these reactions is often overwhelm, embarrassment, shame or powerlessness. These are natural human emotions and your child is asking for your steadiness. Teens are developing rapidly—physically, emotionally and neurologically. Their prefrontal cortex, responsible for impulse control and long-term thinking, is under construction. Their limbic system, the emotional center, is in overdrive, often
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