Family Questions Mom’s Parenting Of 16-Year-Old

Theresa claims her 16-year-old daughter, Tessa, has physically attacked family members including her, Tessa’s grandmother, Bonnie, and her twin brother, Tyler.

TELL DR. PHIL YOUR STORY: Problems with your teen?

Tessa’s aunt, Tracey, claims that part of the problem is Theresa’s parenting. She claims there would be fewer problems with Tessa “If Theresa didn’t leave her kids by themselves and go out of town.”

WATCH Sixteen-Year-Old Says His Twin Sister Needs To ‘Get Her Act Together’

“I have seen Theresa discipline my granddaughter,” says Bonnie, adding, “She’d smack her. Sometimes she’d pull her hair, and she’d be yelling at her while she was doing it.”

Continuing, she says, “There’s no reason to keep disciplining a kid when the kid has already got the point.”

Theresa says she is “sick and tired” of people blaming her for being a bad parent. She says she’s frustrated and has “had enough” from Tessa, who she claims lies, steals, is disrespectful, destructive, and “out of control.”

WATCH ‘There Are Times That I Am Physically Afraid Of My Daughter,’ Claims Mom Of 16-Year Old

Tessa denies it. She says she feels hurt and abandoned by her mother, who has sent her to stay with her grandmother and voluntarily placed her in foster care in the past. “I wish you would stop throwing me place-to-place and expecting other people to pick up the mess that you created,” she tells Theresa.

“One of the things I’m interested in is whether you two can communicate without yelling and interrupting,” Dr. Phil tells the pair in the conclusion of this two-part episode airing Thursday.

Watch the video above to see what happens when he guides them through a face-to-face exercise to help them learn how to speak- and listen – to each other.

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TELL DR. PHIL YOUR STORY: Bad mother/daughter relationship?

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