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Understanding and Supporting Teenagers: A Parent’s Perspective

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"Have you ever felt overwhelmed trying to connect with your teenager?" We generally hear that teenagers are so difficult to handle. As a parent of two teens, I completely agree—it's not easy sometimes. But it's not easy for them either. They are navigating their way through significant changes—physically, mentally, and emotionally. They are connecting with the real world, with all its good, bad, and ugly parts. They are learning to deal with relationships, understanding love, work, money, and much more. I am surrounded by many teenagers. I often hear them worry about their future in this ever-changing world. We might think it's easy for them because of the exposure they get, but that same exposure brings pressure and confusion with multiple options, while also taking away some of their innocence. We've all been there. We were equally confused and stressed. The challenges may be a bit different now, but they are still quite daunting. Challenges Teen...
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The Power of Being Grateful for Yourself

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Being grateful is not so natural. It's a skill to develop. I personally feel we have not understood the depth of being grateful. It is not mere thankfulness. It's a way of living. Just as breathing comes naturally to us, being grateful every moment should be that way. But we have not learned that yet. Thanks to WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, we all are aware that being grateful changes our energy from lack to abundance. So, we have started to be grateful sometimes. We can at least be grateful for others, but we find it difficult to be grateful for ourselves. I asked my client, "Tell me 5 things you are grateful to yourself for." She immediately said, "Oh, I do that every day. I am grateful I am alive." I asked, "Gratitude towards yourself." She was puzzled and looked at me, asking, "What do you mean?" When I was asked this question for the first time, I was also puzzled and couldn't think of anything that I could be gr...
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Empower Your Child with Discover Me

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Empower Your Child with Discover Me In today’s ever-evolving world, children face challenges that go beyond academics. Many parents worry about their child's confidence, social skills, and ability to express themselves effectively. These crucial skills often take a backseat in traditional educational settings, yet they are essential for overall success and personal growth. Why Empowering Self-Directed Learners Matters Empowering children to become self-directed learners fosters independence, confidence, and a lifelong love for learning. Here are a few key areas where empowering self-directed learning can make a significant impact: Building Confidence : Confident children are more likely to take initiative, explore new ideas, and embrace challenges. Confidence equips them to handle setbacks with resilience and determination. Effective Communication : Strong communication skills enable children to articulate their thoughts and emotions clearly, fostering bett...
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Do we understand Teenagers?

 I have been working with some teenagers and their parents. Also I have one at home. I remember when Skanda was about to turn 13yrs I was super stressed and we were getting into too many argutments and fights. One of my mentor, Ratnesh, questioned my believes about teenagers. I realised that I had many believes which was stopping me to create the bridge of understanding between me and my son. The belief that "Teenagers are difficult to handle" itself is enough to have the repercussions. What other believes do we hold that is creating the wall in between the parent and the child? Teenagers don't listen Teenagers are very adamant. They are not interested in any thing except for gadgets. They are so rude to everyone  
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Sharing the load

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PROBLEM: Mom cribbing, complaining, and feeling overwhelmed with all the work at home. SOLUTION(by a teenager): Let us bring understanding and share responsibilities WHAT & HOW: We will decide in the meeting WHEN: Sunday 8 pm ACTION:  We all listed down the chores to be done on a daily basis. Work were put in 4 groups. Everyone chose the work they want to do. There were agreeing, disagreeing, argument, commitment etc during this discussion.    OUTCOME:   Mom relaxed Chores divided Some reminders had to be given All are following as they commited Happy, peaceful and fight free zone NEXT MEET: after a week.
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Co-Creation of Space

Not finding myself alone I started my first learning centre 14 years ago but covid forced us to close it down. After a year of break and our team being scattered, there was fear, anxiety and uncertainty to start a new initiative. As I was missing the action with children, I went ahead and started 'Discover Me'. It was a new place and not too much space to store or set up like before. So I went there with a few inhibitions. The children came to the space, saw the place and saw me cleaning and setting it up. I asked them if they wanted to join me cleaning and setting up the space and they all were very excited.  We all, together, divided the work. If I am confused or stuck, I ask them and together we find a solution for the problem.  Some chose to sweep, two of them said they wanted to mop. So it was all done smoothly. I was sometimes leading and sometimes I was just following instructions. I was reminded that I wasn't alone in this initiative, I had these children with me. B...
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Teen Cafe - Concentration

Teen cafe is a space for teenagers to come together share, explore and learn about life. Every week the group decides the topic of the session. This week it was 'Concentration' Here is blog by Nidhi, member of Teen cafe CONCENTRATION Session blog  It was the next Saturday again and it was my turn to host the meeting and I was super anxious about it as my partner wasn’t replying on time and there was when I got a chance to develop my patience  .  I had already hosted a session previously but then I was still nervous enough . We had stuff done till the last minute also . To our surprise we had few people joining In today which was a little disheartening for me .  We started off with 2 games which pumped us all . First we played DO WHAT I SAY and the second one we played  WHISPER CHALLANGE which was super fun and personally for me it was like a stability test of my concentration levels . The best part is when we all share our experience doing the activity where we ...
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