Adolescence
Should a mother be worried if her 15-year old son does exchange less than 50 words with his parents on a daily basis?
During adolescence, young people tend to spend increasingly less time with their families. They withdraw to their own rooms or spend more time with their peers. In particular, the time they spend with the family as a whole reduces, e.g. watching television or playing games together. However, the time that is spent on one-to-one interactions with their father or mother remains fairly stable and the quality of the communication may even increase. As long as the 50 words are spent on important issues, the mother should not be worried. Only when adolescents start to talk less about what is happening in their lives or what is bothering them should the alarm bells go off. It could be that they are heading down the wrong track or do not know how to deal with themselves.