10 Ways to Respond to Backtalk Without Damaging Your Relationship

Raising Good Humans

Voicing Change Media

Kids & Family, Parenting, Education

4.7 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In today's episode I dive into one of the most triggering parenting challenges: backtalk. From eye rolls to attitude, I’m sharing 10 practical, research-backed ways to respond to backtalk without damaging your connection with your child. From toddlers asserting independence to teens testing boundaries, I’ll share developmentally informed approaches to help you regulate your response, set respectful limits, and foster more effective communication. Let’s turn those moments of sass into opportunities for teaching respect and emotional regulation—for both of you. I WROTE MY FIRST BOOK! Order your copy of The Five Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans Here: https://bit.ly/3rMLMsL Subscribe to my free newsletter for parenting tips delivered straight to your inbox: draliza.substack.com Follow me on Instagram for more: @raisinggoodhumanspodcast Sponsors: Rylee & Cru: Visit ryleeandcru.com/raisinggoodhumans and use code HUMANS for 20% off your first order Bobbie: Bobbie is offering an additional 10% off on your purchase with the code:humans. Visit www.hibobbie.com to find the Bobbie formula that fits your journey. Active Skin Repair: Visit https://www.ActiveSkinRepair.com to learn more about Active Skin Repair and to get 20% off your order, use code:HUMANS. Venmo: Visit Venmo.me/debit to learn more and sign up today Beam: For a limited time, you can get UP TO 35% off plus 2 FREE gifts when you go to shopbeam.com/HUMANS and use code HUMANS at checkout Wayfair: Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop a huge outdoor selection Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode. Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The following podcast is a Dear Media production.
0:09.4	Welcome to Raising Good Humans.
0:12.0	I'm Dr. Elisa Pressman and today it's just us.
0:16.0	And I'm talking about 10 ways to respond to backtalk without undermining your relationship.
0:22.7	Okay, so imagine your 9-year-old rolls their eyes and says, whatever, mom, or bra,
0:31.3	or something that really bothers you because you've simply asked them to clear their plate.
0:37.4	Or your teenager
0:39.0	gets a curfew and they tell you that you are totally ridiculous and disconnected from the
0:46.0	planet and nothing that you're doing is right and you're a bad mother. For example,
0:51.6	so today we're talking about backtalk. And I understand, because I get this a lot,
0:58.1	it's frustrating when you feel like you want to have a connection with your child. You want to do all
1:05.7	the things that make sure that you're attuned and appropriate and you want to set limits and boundaries, but then you
1:12.7	lose it because you feel disrespected because of backtalk. So you want to do something.
1:18.8	But losing it and kind of meeting your young person in where they are with backtalk or
1:26.2	taking it really seriously can actually undermine your
1:28.7	relationship. It doesn't teach them to be more respectful. And it kind of makes you feel bad.
1:34.9	So I want to give you 10 other ways that you could respond. And when I say back talk,
1:40.3	I'm talking about like sassiness or being fresh, disrespectful, argumentative, eye-rolling.
1:49.6	Some people really don't get bothered by eye-rolling. For some reason, eye-rolling is a pain
1:53.7	point for me. Arguing with requests, constantly pushing back, using a lot of sarcasm, being condescending, refusing, just sort of like
2:05.2	the make-me attitude or blame shifting. Those are typically the back-talking pain points that I hear
2:14.3	about. So first, I want to put it in developmental context so that you can not necessarily
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Voicing Change Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Voicing Change Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.