Talking to parents about their struggles can seem very difficult or intimidating especially when it comes to sharing about the issues affecting them. On the other hand, raising teenagers especially today can be challenging for most parents. Many parents find themselves dealing with several issues that negatively influence their children and are harmful to their well-being
Teenage-hood is a stage that is characterized by many difficulties with changes taking place and different forms of pressures being faced at home, school, and within the community—many young adults do not know who to go to or to talk to. Sometimes they get the wrong advice and end up making harmful decisions.
The news headlines highlight cases such as teen pregnancy, homicide, peer influence and social media influence among others. Parents sometimes find it difficult to relate to their teenagers let alone speaking about sensitive issues.
Daraja 360 through its mentorship programs intend to empower the parents with the right parenting skills and confidence in raising teenagers thus helping families to respond better to the crisis. However Daraja may not be able to reach out to all parents of teenagers in the community and therefore, we decided to partner with institutions and individuals working with teenagers who have also been instrumental in all Daraja children and teens programs.
In a focused group discussion, we agreed that there is a need to capacity build them in positive parenting skills as facilitators who will in turn reach out to parents within their circles. By doing so, we will be able to cover a large population and so the impact will be felt in the community.
Daraja through its networks sourced for a seasoned facilitator who is highly experienced in training parents and teenagers in the north rift. Having looked into his curriculum-the Shujaa program for parents and teens we were persuaded that he is the right person to train our team.
Daraja organized a two days’ workshop held at Jumuia Guest house –Nakuru. Together there were 25 participants from different organizations. Among them were representatives of scripture heritage, Young life, Rock Bridge, Rohi Girls, directorates of children services, Social workers, adult educators, and a counseling psychologist.
The Shujaa-programme for parents and teens is aimed at cultivating open, caring, and trusting relationships between caregivers and their teenagers thus building healthy and positive relations. The program helps the parents to protect their adolescents against a variety of negative health and social outcomes as well as teaching their children responsible behavior and assist them towards attaining goals that their children have set for themselves.
The program has fourteen sessions that when covered well, will be able to build strong relationships between parents and teens.
