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How Friends and a Flat Iron Connected Me to My Teen

Published on September 15, 2019

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I found out (by accident) an easy way to bond with my teenage daughter. She was watching Friends on Netflix in her room. I had just stepped out of the shower and blown dry my hair. It was time to flat iron but I swear, y’all...it’s such a commitment...and it takes forever.

ForEvaaaaaaah!

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So I asked her if she wanted to watch Friends in my room while I flat ironed. That way I could listen from the bathroom and peek out occasionally while beating my hair down until it’s as flat as a sheet of notebook paper. (I’m a writer, and I don’t eat pancakes.)

She piled up in my bed and started the show again and we laughed and talked. Sometimes about the show, sometimes not. But we were talking, and it was easier for her to share when I was a “little distracted” doing something else. It wasn’t a formal (let’s sit down and talk) so she felt more comfortable.

So now, every time she finds me flat ironing she says, “It’s time for Friends.” Connecting and talking with your teens doesn’t have to be a BFD. Quite the opposite. Just BE around them, laugh and talk about nothing, so they’ll be comfortable talking with you when it’s something.

Also. Side note: we completely disagree about wearing hair ties to bed. She says yes, and pulls her hair in a scrunchie when she’s ready to go to sleep. I say, no way..hair is free to be. Which do you prefer? Ask your teen which she likes.

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