Tuning in to Teens™: Parenting Program

Emotionally Intelligent parenting                                                                       

Parents of students in Years 6 and 7 are invited to take part in a six-week parenting program, Tuning in to Teens, that aims to help you and your daughter manage the many emotional challenges of adolescence. The program will teach you how to manage your own and your adolescent’s emotions in ways that help you to remain close and keep communicating. By learning these skills, you are likely to be able to reduce conflict within your family and your teen is more likely to talk to you about the challenging issues they face. These are factors that have been found to reduce the risk of mental health emotional problems.

What is Emotional intelligence?

The program is based on the concept of Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is about using your emotions to guide you through the world. It is about being able to use your own knowledge of emotions to make decisions, to calm yourself down, to manage anger and conflict, to help you in your relationships with people, to know what is happening in social situations, and to assist you in many aspects of life where you or another person are involved.

Why is Emotional Intelligence important?

Research has shown that adolescents with greater emotional intelligence:

• are more aware, assertive and strong in situations of peer pressure
• have greater success with making friends and are more able to manage conflict with peers
• are more able to cope when upset or angry
• have fewer mental health and emotional difficulties
• have more stable and satisfying relationships as adults
• have greater career success ~ Emotional Intelligence may be a better predictor of academic and career success than IQ!

When parents focus on helping their teen learn about emotions, the young person is more likely to have higher emotional intelligence. In this parenting program we will teach parents what to do to help these skills develop, and in doing so we expect teens to manage adolescence better.

Would you like to find out more?

Years 6 and 7 are important transition periods and over the past couple of years COVID restrictions have interrupted many opportunities normally available for parents to connect with others in the school community.  Here is a great opportunity not only to learn some skills to assist your relationship with your daughter, but also to connect with other parents in a relaxed and comfortable setting.

If you are interested in participating in this parenting program, please send an email to me before Tuesday 26 April.  Olivia Matthews, our K-7 School Counsellor, and I will be facilitating the group, commencing in the third week of Term 2. There will be six two-hour sessions on Wednesday nights from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, by email or phone at school.

Janet McEwen
School Counsellor