Does your child feel Tongue Tied?
As a 12-year-old, I was once visiting my grandparents in an overcrowded bus accompanied by a guardian. A nice lady, seeing my discomfort, gave me a part of her own seat. In the no-mobile phone era, it was common for strangers to converse with each other. The nice lady asked me, ‘where are you going?’ What was a general conversational question for her, was a trick question for my tween brain. Should I talk to a stranger? How many details am I supposed to reveal? Should I tell her the name of the stop I need to get off at? Should I tell her who I am going to meet? My confused state of silence was judged as a misdemeanour. The fellow passengers were quite quick in passing a verdict on the whole generation as being insolent! But the questions in my head were quite genuine! Each time a teen coaching client narrates their social conversational dilemmas to me, I can’t help but remember my own innumerable dilemmas. Growing up in nuclear families with busy schedules, rushing from one class t