Debra Kennedy

Cathy Janiak

Elizabeth Brotherton

Cheryl Baron

Identify key concepts parents need to know about adolescents and their families and peer groups.

6 – 10 objective

important facts (25) – specific, myths

program ?

Help parents identify their own parenting style

Help parents understand peer interactions

Identify ‘normal’ adolescent development

Understanding need for independence / autonomy

Parents will be able to:

Identify if they are authoritative, authoritarian, permissive (neglectful, indulgent)

*Authoritative: fosters adolescent’s social competence

*Authoritarian: fosters adolescent’s social incompetence / lacks verbal exchange

*Permissive: lack of self-control

Identify how traditional vs. non-traditional families affect adolescents

*Siblings

*Non-traditional: step, single, blended, extended

Understand how conflict is normal

*Autonomy and attachment

Understand reciprocal socialization

*Parent and child socialize each other; teach and learn to and from each other

*Synchrony: Interaction that is attuned to each other’s behavior

Understand the impact of the family life cycle

*Leaving home / single young adults

*Marriage

*Becoming Parents

*Families with adolescents

*Midlife Families (Empty nest)

*Later life (role reversal)

Effectively communicate with their adolescents

*Facilitative Skills Model

Identify negative peer influences

*Delinquency, drugs, alcohol, unsafe sex

Foster confidence and self-esteem

*Positive feedback, open communication, positive reinforcement, parenting style

Understand how important social groups/cliques are to their adolescents

Encourage open communication about dating, romance, sex, drugs

*don’t confuse the need for affection with sex (talk about the differences)

*Important Facts

Our parenting program will teach the facilitative skills model. This model moves through three phases. The first phase establishes empathy, trust and respect. The second phase explores and identifies problems. In the final phase, there is use of confrontation and a plan of action. The second part of our program will include parenting skills class utilizing the best of the authoritative model. There will be a session discussing psychological, biological, social development of the adolescent. There will be an open forum for sharing problems, solutions, brainstorming.