We've all been through the teen years. You know how bumpy it can be and you're

probably wanting to help your child do better than you did as a teen, but it's not just a once and done conversation, it's a series of discussions

to help your child as they start to face challenges.

I'm John Fuller with Dr. Danny Werther, to heads up the focus on the family parenting

department. Danny I love your heart and encouragement for parents to have hard

conversations and to start early. Last time you mentioned how building trust is a foundation for moving into the teen years.

How important is it for us to have that door open for ongoing conversations.

Oh, it is essential.

And I think we all know that deep down, that we need to have the door wide open

for our kids to be able to ask us tough questions and many times for us to initiate.

Now Danny I did not have that as a teen. I did not have ongoing hard conversations

with my parents. I think deep down we know that we've got to tackle big topics with our teens, especially

now a lot of parents will say, I know I need to do that, how do I do it, does my teen even really

want to have those conversations.

And then the busyness of life, the reality of it,

is we just, we're trying to respond to life.

And it's hard to pause everything

and to just focus in on this more difficult conversation and it can be around

faith. I mean that's a big one right now for a lot of parents. What do you believe

and what do you believe about God? Do you believe prayer is really real?

And you can initiate these conversations and bring things to the surface.

Yeah, you have to.

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