Mom’s 'I' Statements Outsmart Teen One-Word Monoliths 2025

In a 2025 parenting saga that could rival any sitcom, Rachel Garlinghouse battled the notorious teen defense mechanism: one-word answers. After ditching guerilla interrogations for the CIA-level linguistic finesse of 'I' statements from Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s book, Rachel noted her teens’ grades dropping alongside 3-hour track practices four times a week. Cleverly offering to tackle laundry on practice days while dropping truth bombs like 'I noticed' and 'I wonder,' she turned silent teens into tentative conversationalists. The key? Teamwork, not timeout. Apparently, negotiating homework and sports schedules is easier with phrases starting with 'I' than a text message that ends in 'K.'

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Source: Businessinsider | Published: 10/8/2025 | Author: Rachel Garlinghouse