Parenting And Adolescent Development 

Next week, the attention of the world would focus on adolescents as the world will be marking the annual International Adolesence Week. A week dedicated for young people, their health, care providers, their teachers, their parents, their advocates and their communities to come together and celebrate with the ultimate goal of working out ways to improve healthy development, health safety and wellbeing of adolescents and young people.
The week which starts from 20th to 26th March, 2022 has its theme: “Transitions” from childhood to adulthood, physically and mentally from a pre-pandemic life into a life from dependence to independence.
It is important to begin to understand how to take care of children who are transiting to adolescents.  The role of parents in the transition stage is very important. The parents apart from meeting the child’s basic needs of medical care, housing, education and food must in addition meet the child’s emotional and physical needs. Also, the parents are to provide encouragement, support and access to activities that would enable the child to master key developmental tasks.
The Rivers State Government in line with the global Adolescents Health  Week celebration  has planned activities  to
celebrate the week with young people and parents.
According  to the Adolescent Desk Officer of the State Ministry of Health, Wokoma Mbreba, activities planned would include organising  an Adolescent and Youth Forum as well as a Parental Conference on the 21st and 24th of March, 2022 respectively.
Parenting can be the most rewarding work of adult life. Nothing brings more joy and pride than a happy, productive and loving child. However, each age and stage of child’s  development has specific  goals and tasks. For infants, it is to eat sleep and explore their world while for adolescents, it is to become their own person with their own group of friends.
Subsequently,  adolescents  need many skills in order to successfully  achieve their goal of increased independence  since some adolescents  do not make this transition smoothly.  Their movement  toward independence  can cause stress and grief for parents and families.
Meanwhile, some aspects of this rough transition are normal and while stressful should not alarm parents.
Starting early is the best way for parents to prepare for their child’s  adolescence. Parents can prepare themselves  and their child for a smoother transition and greater  success in achieving  the tasks of adolescent development by providing  a stable, safe and living home environment.  They can also create an atmosphere of honesty, mutual trust and respect with a culture  of open communication at family meal times.
Developing a relationship  that encourages your child to talk to you is important.  Teaching responsibility for their belongings  and yours, responsibility  for household chores, the importance  of accepting limits and the importance of thinking before acting are also ways that parents can utilize.
Though these are complex processes which would occur gradually and start during infancy, a teenager’s  adolescent years will be less stressful  when parents and child have worked  together on the tasks throughout the child’s  earlier development.
The ability  to talk openly about problems is one of the most important  aspects of the parent and child relationship.  Developing  this relationship and open communication  takes time, persistence and understanding.  The relationship develops gradually by spending time with their adolescents as schedules  with afterschool activities,  sports and jobs become busy during adolescent years.
Family meal times, sharing stories of parent’s  adolescent  outings, vacations and celebrations  are important opportunities  for parents to spend time with their adolescents.  Parent should also try to spend some individual  time with each child praising positive behaviours and talking about difficult or upsetting things.  This relationship  creates the foundation for talking  with the child when struggles and conflicts  emerge during adolescence.
For this year’s  celebrations people for all ages are invited to enter a Transition College contest hosted by France. This international  contest less than 25 and above or any team, create a visual  representation of what “Transition “ means to you. It can be in any form of drawing, photographs, words or anything that you can display virtually. There are no limits. Your creation must be in jpg format  to be submitted  between 7-18 March 2022. Also complete the contest form, Scan and take a photo of your form in English,  email your creation and contest form to  info@internationaladolescenthealthweek.org by 18 March 2022.

By: Ibinabo Ogolo