More Than Half of Parents Admit They Struggle to Hold a Conversation with Their Kids

Communication is the key to making any relationship a successful one, but more often than not, good communication is just about the hardest thing to actually put into practice. This can especially hard between parents and their children. The former is saddled by the stress of adult responsibilities, while the latter is still working through the trials of growing up. Now, a new study has found that around 70 percent of parents say they “struggle to communicate meaningfully,” with their kids.

The study focused on 2,000 parents of school-aged children in order to examine the in’s and outs surrounding how families make the time to have conversations despite managing a frantic daily routine. This large disparity in terms of conversation could have to do with the fact that parents reported speaking to their kids way less than one would imagine.

Around 40 percent of the respondents reported that a run of the mill conversation with their child usually doesn’t exceed 10-minutes. And, according to the survey, kids aren’t really helping to change that either. 82 percent of parents actually feel like their kid avoids talking to them if they don’t have to. What’s worse is that 78 of the parents surveyed feel as if this results in them “being shut out of their child’s life.”

Still, the survey shows that all of this could simply be a symptom of a different challenge: being strapped for time. Thirty-six percent of parents pointed to a busy schedule being the main thing that stops them from talking to their kids as much, and 41 percent cite work as their primary time suck. None of this changes the fact communicating is hard. Finding out what the perfect way to reach a person depends a lot on their age and what they’ve been dealing with. While talking with your kids is vital, don’t feel bad if you haven’t cracked the code on it just yet.