Workshop on parenting teenagers

Demand from parents requiring support in dealing with teenage children has led to child and family welfare agency UnitingCare Burnside to run a parenting workshop on the Peninsula.

The workshop will be held at Umina campus of Brisbane Water Secondary College on August 12 at 7pm and will run for two hours.

Burnside's Reconnecting Adolescents & Parents Team (RAPT) will run the parenting workshop.

"Today's parents and adolescents are faced with many difficult challenges - societal expectations, peer pressure and increased use of drugs, alcohol and violence," said RAPT coordinator Ms Wendy Orth.

"These are just some of the issues identified by parents and young people that stretch their resources and ability to cope and the feedback we are getting is that there are many parents on the Central Coast who need assistance with these parenting issues."

Ms Orth said parenting teenagers can often create unique challenges for parents.

The workshop was designed to help parents "relate more with their teenagers" and "stay connected without being judgemental".

It provided information, support, an opportunity to discover new tools, and a chance to talk with and share experiences and successful strategies with other parents, Ms Orth said.

Some of the topics covered will include normal development of teenagers, discipline (what works and what doesn't), self esteem, communication, feelings, drugs and alcohol, blended families and single parent families.

Press release, July 16