Avoid putting words in her mouth or interrupting her when she speaks. Encourage her to talk by asking casual questions about her day, or how a test went at school. Note her responses and allow her to share her thoughts.  Have a two way conversation. Showing your teen you care about her thoughts and opinions during a conversation will give her more confidence to be open and honest with you. Allow her to ask questions and let her think for herself.  An example conversation starter might be: "How are things at school?" "How did practice go?" "Was the party fun on Saturday?" Let your teen know you care about what's going on in their lives and you are there to listen. "You know you can always talk to me if you're having trouble at school or you are feeling distracted." "I'm here to listen if you ever need to talk." "Remember, you can talk and I'll just listen." . Most teenagers may appear lazy or distracted, when in fact, they are often sleep deprived. Unlike adults, adolescents are actually biologically prone to sleeping in later and waking up in the mid morning, rather than in the early morning. So when your teen is forced out of bed at 7 or 8 am to go to school and learn, her natural sleep cycles is thrown off and she will likely appear lazy, disoriented, and unmotivated, all symptoms of lack of sleep. This is why it is so important that your teen goes to bed at a decent time to ensure she gets eight full hours of sleep a night. This will help to prevent appearing lazy, and ensure she has enough energy for the day. Discuss your teen's sleep patterns and her typical bed time. A consistent bed time every night, even on weekends, will help to set her natural sleep cycle and allow her body to get enough rest. For example, if she has to wake up at 7 am five days a week for school, she should be going to bed no later than 10:30 pm to ensure she gets a full eight hour sleep. She should then try to stick to this bedtime on weekends so she doesn't throw off her natural sleep cycle. Many teenagers drag their heels when asked to do chores or tasks because they don't see the value in doing these things. They may think, so what if I forget to take out the trash, or to clean my room? What does it matter? As a parent, its important for you explain that in fact you do not always want to do certain chores or tasks and would rather be doing other things with your time. But completing household chores and other life tasks is part of being a responsible member of the family. Note that importance of teamwork and cooperation between everyone in the household to ensure chores and tasks are done equally in the home. Explaining to your teen that you often don't enjoy doing household duties, but you do them anyway for the good of everyone will help your teen understand the reasoning behind completing a chore or task. This will then motivate her to do her part as a member of the family. Laziness can sometimes be a symptom of other issues, like a lack of sleep, depression, stress, or other internal struggles. If your teen seems to be more sluggish or lazy than usual and is displaying other signs of depression or anxiety, sit down with your teen and talk with her. If you are worried about your teen’s depression or anxiety, consider talking to a medical professional, your family doctor, or a counselor about next steps.

Summary: Listen and be patient with your teen. Ask your teen about her sleep schedule Explain the value of following through on commitments and responsibilities. Check if there are other issues at home or at school.


It’s common for English speakers to see Latin words and phrases italicized, such as in medias res (“in the middle of things”) or in loco parentis (“in the place of a parent”). However, Latin words and phrases that have entered common usage are usually not italicized -- including i.e. and e.g. To indicate a separate clause, you can either insert a comma before "i.e." or "e.g." or you can use parentheses, both of which are shown in the examples above. If you use parentheses, open them right before the "e.g." or "i.e." and close them after you have given your example or alternate definition. For American English usage, you should always put a comma right after both "i.e." and "e.g." as shown in the examples above. For British English usage, do not put a comma right after either "i.e." or "e.g." If you’re just writing for yourself or in an informal situation, you may not have any specific requirements. However, if you’re writing in a particular academic discipline, or in a particular profession (such as journalism), you will probably be asked to write in accordance with the relevant style manual. For example, APA Style, the official style of the American Psychological Association, is used widely in the social sciences and in professions like journalism. APA states that you should always put a comma after e.g. and i.e. when using them: “Some sources (e.g., Janet, 2010; Jeff, 2015) argue that mushrooms are tasty” and “There are three meals in the day (i.e., breakfast, lunch, and dinner)”. If you use a sentence that includes i.e. and a parenthetical comment, make sure that the restatement is directly equivalent to what you said first: you should be able to swap them out without a loss of meaning.  The sentence “His favorite type of sandwich is an open-faced sandwich (i.e., one that uses only one piece of bread rather than two)” represents correct usage of i.e. The sentence “His favorite type of sandwich is an open-faced sandwich (i.e., a panini or similar type of sandwich)” represents incorrect usage, because “a panini or similar type of sandwich” is NOT directly equivalent to “an open-faced sandwich.” If it sounds reasonable, then you are probably using the right one. For example, "I like quiet activities (e.g., reading)" becomes "I like quiet activities (for example, reading)". When trying this with i.e., it is often easier to use "in other words" instead of "that is."
Summary: Italicize only if specifically asked. Use parentheses or commas with both. Determine any style manual requirements. Ensure that what you write after i.e. means the same as what precedes it. Try replacing the abbreviations with their meaning.