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When Your Teen Can't Handle 'No': Door-Slamming, Silent Treatment, and What Actually Works (BONUS Episode for Parents of Teens and Tweens)
11/13/2025
When Your Teen Can't Handle 'No': Door-Slamming, Silent Treatment, and What Actually Works (BONUS Episode for Parents of Teens and Tweens)
When Your Teen Can't Handle 'No': Door-Slamming, Silent Treatment, and What Actually Works Your teenager just exploded because you said they couldn't go to a party. Or maybe they went silent—giving you the cold shoulder for hours. Or worse, they agreed to your face and then snuck out anyway. If your teen's reaction to disappointment feels like living with a ticking time bomb, you're not imagining it. Here's what most parents don't realize: your teen's brain is actually WORSE at handling frustration than it was a few years ago. The emotional center develops years before the impulse control center—so they feel disappointment more intensely but have less capacity to manage it. Add in hormones, social pressure, and their desperate need for autonomy, and you've got a perfect storm. But here's the harder truth: they're old enough now to walk away, lie to you, or make genuinely risky choices. The stakes are higher—and "because I said so" doesn't work anymore. In this bonus episode, you'll discover: Why adolescent brain development makes frustration tolerance harder (not easier) What low frustration tolerance actually looks like in teens—from door-slamming to deception The critical shift from "empathy first, boundary second" to "validate + explain + offer limited autonomy" How to separate negotiables from non-negotiables so you stop negotiating things you won't budge on Why explaining your reasoning (even when you don't have to) reduces their resistance How to teach your teen to advocate appropriately instead of escalating When to let natural consequences teach—and when not to The repair strategy that builds frustration tolerance over time By the end of this episode, you'll have a framework for holding firm boundaries while giving your teen the autonomy they're biologically driven to seek—without backing down on what matters or losing your mind in the process. Resources mentioned: Grab your free Frustration Tolerance Scripts & Practice Guide at Your teen isn't broken. Your parenting isn't broken. Sometimes we're just asking our fish to climb trees. That's what we fix here. -Dr. Kristi
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