It is not unusual at all for teens to answer their parents with oneword answers."Where are you going?""Places.""When will you be back?""Sometime.""Who will you be with?""People." That means that the days of your children standing in the front door with the details of their day are over.They are breaking away from you so that they'll be able to stand on their own as a young adult. Some parents feel sad about this loss of their children's closeness.Of course you miss those conversations and friendly talks.Once your children move out after high school and establish themselves confidently as a young adult,they'll come back for easy conversations and even ask for advice.But in order to determine who are right now,they need to separate from you. Your job,however,is to keep them safe--and that requires knowing where they are and who they are with.Let them know clearly that it's not because you want to dominate their life and control them;it's because it's a safety issue for family members to keep track of one another. When they're home and sit down to eat a meal,sit down with them.You need to open up to them about your life.Tell them of an interesting incident at the office,let them in on a bit of family gossip ,discuss a piece of news with them.They are glad that you see them as old enough to be in on a few experiences of your life.By letting a teen in on your life,they just may let you in on theirs. The author believes that teens' oneword answers show   _  .
their awareness of independence their physical and mental changes an unpleasant parentchild relationship their wishes for keeping silent