Lesson Category: Teens

Join us 8pm April 20th for "Talking to Kids about Gun Violence." Watch our "Peace At Home Parenting" Facebook page for this month's upcoming Live Facebook Event.Parents are asking us about helping kids deal with recent violent events. Our most important suggestion is to manage what's on the screen. Even when kids seem engrossed in activities, they are picking up on what is going on around them. Each time young children see an image of a violent act, they believe it is happening at that moment, even if it is the same image shown over and and over again.

Research has shown that once youth understand how their brain works and what they can do to optimize brain health, their social emotional health and motivation to learn increases. In this session, parents and educators can learn about the relationship between executive functions and emotional regulation, and how that affects academics in addition to stress and well-being.

Educators play a vital role in shaping not only students’ academic success but also their emotional resilience. In today’s fast-paced and high-pressure environments, both students and teachers experience significant stress. The good news? Stress, when managed effectively, can actually be beneficial to brain health. This session is designed to equip educators with practical, science-backed strategies to manage their own stress while also supporting students in cultivating healthy coping mechanisms.

Human beings are built to reflect each other’s emotions. When children display intense feelings and behaviors, our brains naturally reflect those. We start to feel stressed, angry, fearful, or overwhelmed, just like our kids. The most helpful thing we can do is to develop a brain calming practice and make it part of our daily routine.

Everyone encounters stress and it can actually be good for our bodies and brains—if we know how to cope with it. Learn practical techniques to reduce your stress, in the moment and over the long term.

Your teen may seem distracted and distant at times but there is a reason for that. Adolescence is a very busy time when teens need to accomplish certain social-emotional tasks like adjusting to their changing bodies and coping with sexual feelings or building a peer group that will help them launch when they are ready to leave the nest. Teens do better when parents understand these tasks and recognize how to help. 

Parents and educators may not realize that the messages you are sending about your own confidence and well-being affect the youth you raise. Learn more about the connection between self-esteem and growth mindset. Make a plan to change your feedback language and self-talk on behalf of yourself and your children or students.

Gifted students are more likely to hold a “fixed mindset,” which may hold them back from trying new things or reaching their full potential. They may believe they should only do things at which they are excellent. The way families and educators give feedback can reinforce a frame of mind that supports those limiting beliefs or the confidence to try new experiences. Learn about the language you can use to support courage and independence in your gifted student. You will also gain skills in coaching your child back to confidence after a failure.  

It can be tempting to tell our teens what they should do, or how they could have done something better. However, this gives them decreased opportunity to arrive at these conclusions themselves!

It is easy to have breakdowns when talking with teens, especially about their struggles. Many of us want to help our kids to feel better and even fix their problems. This class will help you recognize barriers to connecting positively.