Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Help Your Teen Get Over
a Break Up

By Kendeyl Johansen

Dredge up your first romantic disappointment. Remember the pain and unhappiness of breaking up the uncertainty? Heather Winne of Indiana recalls feeling devastated after her first "true love" dumped her. "My mom came into my room carrying a beautiful silk nightgown and handed it to me, gave me a hug and said, 'I know you are feeling very heartbroken. I thought you could use something to make you feel beautiful right now.'" The nightgown didn't make Winne's hurt go away but she knew that her mother understood and cared about her feelings. "I'll never forget it," Winne says.

I eye my three young sons defensively, not wanting anyone to break their hearts. But eventually somebody will. Broken relationships happen to everyone, and the first taste is usually during adolescence. What can a parent do to help a heartbroken teen?

"As much as you want to make it all better for your teen, give her space," says Gilda Carle, Ph.D. "Tell him or her that break-ups are hard and you are there for him whenever he wants to speak to you. Then let go."

Teenage girls often cope with break-ups by talking on the phone with their friends or diving into the Internet for marathon chat sessions. "They review all the hurts and pains, which is soothing," Carle says.

Margaret Loudon of New Jersey, went through a break up with her daughter and watched her cope with social activites. "My daughter went off to camp right after her break-up," Loudon says. "She basically threw herself into the activities there. She really reconnected with good girlfriends who have been her mainstay during the whole process. She said that being with all girls was the best thing that could have happened at that particular time."