Assistant Principals' Updates

Wellbeing and Engagement

Connected Parenting Workshop with Lael Stone

As part of our partnership with The Resilience Project, a parenting workshop facilitated by Lael Stone was run at the school on 24th May. Lael provided some wonderful strategies for building positive relationships with teenagers. She was a very engaging and experienced presenter who provided some key messages about the teenage brain and how this period of brain development is necessary for them to narrow their focus and discover their individual interests and strengths.  A link to Lael's Facebook and tips and hints can be accessed here, Resources | Lael Stone .

This stage of our teenagers lives is also important for learning how to express their emotions, establish healthy relationships with others and develop empathy and compassion, watch the Dan Siegel clip here for more information, Daniel Siegel - The Teenage Brain - YouTube .

Parents need to be the “anchor”; a safe place for teens when they express their emotions, and try to avoid being ‘triggered’ when teens are being challenging. Resilience in young people can be strengthened by modelling empathy (“they can’t do it if they can’t see it”) and showing it is ok to make mistakes. Resilience isn’t about never having negative or distressing emotions, it is about dealing with those emotions and then getting on with it. Emotions can be suppressed, they can be converted into aggression or they can be expressed. Parents and carers should try to listen to their teens without getting involved in the ‘drama’, providing advice or judging. This builds trust and allows our teens a safe space in which to express their emotions and grow.

Daily practice in the family of sharing three things that went well or what each person is grateful for (dinner time is a perfect opportunity for these discussions), are other regular ways of building skills for resilience.