Courageous Parenting- Raising Adolescents
This 7 session course is designed to coach parents of adolescents. In reality, some children start experiencing hormonal changes in their bodies as early as age 9. For these children, the transition process into adulthood has started. We recommend this course for parents of children ages 9 and above so they know what to expect as their children grow older. It’s never too early to start learning about teens!
Topics Covered
- Transition into adolescents. We help parents appreciate what changes to anticipate in their children as the transition starts. The children change physically, emotionally and behaviourally. We point out what is normal but always ask the question: is normal necessarily acceptable?
- How teenagers see the world. The developing teen has a body that is approaching the adult phase. Some teens even grow physically bigger than their parents! The world and parents have adult expectations from this young person. How are they supposed to think, look and relate? How do teens behave when they want to avoid what they perceive as impending calamity?
- Why teens do what they do. Parents notice changes in the appearance and performance of their teens. Some of these changes might even alarm you. Some teens are obsessed with oral hygiene, others start locking their bedroom, some become rude and don’t to listen to parents or authority. Others become intensely competitive in sports and academics but are always disappointed even when they are performing well. Why does this happen? What is the role of disappointment in developing a belief system and crafting a behavioural strategy?
- Dealing with Changes. Having painted a picture of what you can expect, how do you as a parent adjust to this and deal with it? Is growth only needed in your teen or does the parent need to grow up as well? Must home turn into a war zone? Believe us, there are ways to cope with life and thrive doing it.
- Self Esteem. This session draws a lot of attention. While parents can help their children develop convictions, often their emotions override these convictions. We look at three big emotions – anger, shame and fear. If not well handled, they easily erode the self-worth of the teen and end up damaging their convictions.
- Influencing your child for good and for God. Is it possible to influence your adolescent for good and for God? The answer is yes. Next question, how? In this session we cover 5 approaches that will get you into that delicate heart of your teen.
Note: Our reference text is “Courageous Parenting” by David Hutchins. Some sessions covered in class come from the book (used with permission) while others were developed by our team. After class, we form small groups to dig into the book.
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