Jan 18 - Childine’s Positive Parenting Course – The Teenage Years
Next week sees the start of Childline’s next parenting course giving help and advice on parenting in those teenage years in order to build strong relationships and enjoy family life.
The course aims to give advice as you chart your way through the challenges of the teenage years and the changes in the parent-child relationship -the seven sessions are designed to help you stay connected with your child through understanding their world and developing good communication skills.
“By week three of the course our relationship had really improved, and my daughter commented on how much better things were in the home because I didn’t shout so much! I think the course is brilliant!” remarked a previous course participant.
How does it work?
Sharing ideas with other parents is a key part of the course, and Childline uses case studies and real life scenarios to help ground the material. Each session includes space to plan any changes you want to make in your parenting, and from session two there will be an opportunity to discuss how you are getting on with putting this into practice at home.
What’s in the course?
The course starts by looking at the change from childhood to adolescence and what people hope to gain from the course. We explore how we can meet our child’s emotional needs, taking into account their temperament and their ‘love languages’.
Stepping into our teenager’s shoes and thinking how we can help with the many changes they’re experiencing is next: the challenge is to stay connected! We consider our parenting style, its effect on our teenager, and learn about the power of a consistent approach. Encouraging responsibility and negotiating house rules are part of the programme too.
One of the biggest challenges for parents of teenagers is communication. We look at improving it by listening well, using empathy and understanding body language. How we handle conflict is also crucial, choosing your battles, checking out your anger style, and developing negotiation skills.
The final session helps us look at how we unwittingly contribute to negative behaviour by our responses. We also consider the values we want to pass on to our kids and how to build good, lasting memories.
Session titles:
- Session 1 – Temperament and emotional needs
- Session 2 – Why it’s tough being a teenager
- Session 3 – Parenting styles
- Session 4 – Communication
- Session 5 – Handling conflict
- Session 6 – The Big issues
- Sessions 7 – Building strong families
This course will be delivered by Richard and Donna Abbott, who have been specially trained for this by the Care for the Family charity in the UK. It will take place on Tuesday evenings between 6.30-8.00pm starting 26th January 2016 in Europort.
To pre-register, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 200 43503 any evening between 5-9pm. Limited places available and there is a small fee of £10 per person which covers the cost of the accompanying course booklet.
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