“Parenting a teenager can be challenging even when their behavior is developmentally natural, but being informed can turn that frustration into connection.”
So says Gilda Ross, Glenbard District 87 Student and Community Projects coordinator, who, for over 30 years, has been working to bring in quality speakers to Glenbard Parent Series: Navigating Healthy Families (GPS) programming—designed, as the name implies, to help families navigate the childhood, teenage and young adult years.
On Sept. 9, the program will be led by Matt Richtel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning science-journalist and the author of “How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence,” among other works.
His topic will be “Understanding Adolescence: A Complex Journey of Growth and Transformation,” Ross said, adding, “It’s not every day that we have a Pulitzer Prize-winning author taking a look at adolescence!”
In this presentation, Richtel will talk about cutting-edge neurobiological research detailing the process that occurs inside of the maturing brain, Ross outlined, saying that “It’s never been harder” raising teens with today’s technology always at their fingertips.
“We put the world into their hands,” she continued, with teens moving closer to adulthood earlier than in previous generations and with more pressures and “digital saturation” than ever before.
Ross said that still-evolving brain development, earlier puberty and prioritizing peer connections while moving away from parental connections can create mental health issues and anxiety in today’s teens.
“His research is very-well documented,” Ross said of Richtel, reiterating that today’s teens are “biologically driven to separate from us to build peer bonds [and] a testing of boundaries.”
At the same time, “The brain just might not be ready,” she said, so the presentation poses such concepts as “How do we help the child develop the coping skills” while at the same time “not underestimating their success … not coming in and rescuing them.”
That is, Ross posed, “The importance of not meeting every challenge, letting them [teens] overcome those obstacles,” yet within boundaries.
“We have a youth mental health crisis,” she said. “The digital culture has created a new world” that in part includes hyper-connection, isolation and risk-taking.
Ross admits, however, that when it comes to the digital world, “We’re [adults] every bit as addicted as they are.”
Richtel’s research will help parents develop a “safety net,” Ross described, and help them “regulate their own emotions and help teens regulate their own emotions when they’re [the parents] not around.”
He will also decode teenage outbursts with a “Love, Lead, and Let Go” blueprint that will help parents separate their identities from that of their teens.
“Teen behavior may be natural, but parenting through it rarely feels easy. Knowledge brings clarity,” Ross acknowledged. “Parents having empathy for this time … to build that connection, is one example of the quality programming.”
She said in the 30-plus years of GPS, “One hour can reinforce all those values you have as a family,” and added with emphasis, “Now more than ever, GPS!”
The presentation will be held virtually on Sept. 9 at noon and 7 p.m.
Visit GPSParentSeries.org for event details and the links to these webinars.
All are welcome to the free weekly GPS events, and no registration is required. To be placed on a reminder list for GPS events or to ask questions in advance, contact Ross at gilda_ross@glenbard.org or 630-942-7668. Continuing education credits are available.
GPS is sponsored by the Cebrin Goodman Center, College of DuPage, the Cooperative Association for Special Education (CASE), the DuPage County Health Department, the Emmy Gaffey Foundation, Northwestern Medicine, KidsMatter, Midge and Dan Anderson, the Regional Office of Education, the Stogsdill Family Foundation and the Webb-Hutter Family Fund.
