EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR PARENTS

Parent-Teen Communication Forum

Facilitated by:
Libby Cleveland, MA
Adolescent Psychology

Delilah McDonald, BA
Community Health Education 

Format: 

Teens and parents meet separately for the first hour, collectively answering the following questions:

  • What are the issues faced by teens today?

  • Where/who do teens seek for guidance and information?

  • Why are these sources chosen?

  • Why do some teens not turn to their parents?
     

In the second hour, the groups come together and the teens’ and parents’ responses are reviewed and discussed. This guided discussion is the beginning of a greater awareness of the importance of positive communication interactions.

Role play is then used as a foundation for a better understanding of the needs and perspectives of both teens and parents. Role play is often successful at breaking down the barriers parents and teens have set up. The educational focus is on positive communication techniques that include active listing skills, non-verbal communication skills and the importance of sending clear messages.  

Participants leave with a new perspective about communicating and with lots of resources to learn more. Examples of research-based information shared:

1. Youth do want close relationships with their parents and other adults. These intergenerational relationships provide support and a sense of security that facilitate the teen’s identity formation. Ungar, M. (2004). “The Importance of Parents and Other Caregivers to the Resilience of High Risk Adolescents.” Family Process, 43, 23-41

2. Parental monitoring, an empirically established protective factor for teens, refers to parents knowing the whereabouts and activities of their teens when the teen is not under their immediate supervision. Researchers have found that direct control over an adolescent’s behavior is not as powerful as the voluntary disclosure of information about their life from the teen in preventing deviant teen behavior. It is quality communication that truly prevents and reduces unhealthy and deviant behavior. Stattin, H., Kerr, M., (2000). “Parental Monitoring: A Reinterpretation.” Child Development, 71, 1072-1085

 

For more information or to request to have this program at your organization, please contact Linda Gallehugh.

Parenting Healthy Teens 

Teen Health Connection offers a program for parents of teens designed to provide parents with the tools to develop and maintain a positive, healthy, supportive relationship with their teen. The staff presents the program to parent groups on request. Programs include group activities, videos, handouts, brief lectures and discussions to keep the classes informative, interactive and fun.

Session I:   

  • The Joys and Challenges of Parenting Teens in Today’s World

  • What Teenagers Need from Parents, Teachers and Other Adults    

  • Physical, Cognitive and Psychosocial Growth and Development during Adolescence

Session II: 

  • Affects of Misperceptions and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies On Teen-Parent Relationships

  • How Well Do You Know your Teen?

  • How to Communicate Effectively with Your Teen

Session III:

  • Ways to Minimize Parent-Teen Conflict and Power Struggles

  • Family Problem Solving

  • Punishment vs. Discipline

  • Developing Family Rules and Limits

  • Parenting Styles

Session IV: 

  • Age-Appropriate Decision-Making

  • How to Help Teens with Decision Making

  • Helping your Adolescent with Peer Pressure

  • Understanding Teen Friendships

For more information or to request a program for your parent group, please contact Linda Gallehugh at 704-446-0855.