Session 14/21

 Parenting and guiding teenagers from childhood to adulthood

Competencies to be exercised:

• Understand the common challenges of puberty for teenagers and families.
• Manage the balance between control and the need for independence: Contracting instead of controlling.
• Plan and practice open dialogues with children and teenagers about puberty.
• Use your own life experience as a resource.

Theme of the session:
In this training session, you will discuss and plan how to support and guide children in their transition from childhood to adulthood. This includes the process of a child becoming a teenager and, later, an adult, beginning to live an independent life.

Aims of the session:

This session aims to understand and manage the changes in family life when a child becomes a teenager. Caregivers often face authority issues as teenagers seek independence. Many African teenagers experience a difficult conflict in our rapidly changing world: “Who am I, and what should I do in this life?” To support teenagers in finding an answer to these questions, the aims of this session are:

• Preparing children for puberty through open dialogue.
• Finding a balance between control and teenager involvement in agreements.
• Building a strong relationship to support the child’s transition from childhood to adulthood.