“STARTING RIGHT” PARENTING TALK BY MRS LALITHA KOK

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2011

 Going through adolescence is tough especially if you are trying to fit in or belong to a group. Being at a new school adds to the stress as well. So it helps as parents to understand our teenagers. They have growing- up pains as well as school–going issues.

With these challenges in mind, the Temasek Secondary School Parent Support Group organized a parenting talk on 19 Feb 2011. Mrs.Lalitha Kok, the school counsellor, facilitated the session for Secondary One parents at the AVT Room. It was a morning well spent as Mrs. Kok shared invaluable tips in building self-esteem, learning competence and building rapport with school. She gave us a good background into the changes teenagers go through. Physical, emotional and even social changes affect our teens at this stage. How challenging it is indeed!

This is where our speaker encouraged us to explore our own effective ways in communicating with our teens. Some of us said walks, malling or going for rides help. Playing board games or having meals together also count as bonding time .Mrs. Kok shared several online resources for us to use as reference to build our children into confident, disciplined and responsible teenagers.

Mrs. Kok also advised us to just keep good communication with teachers to monitor our child’s progress in school. Even if our teenagers do not talk much at home, we can help our child to cope with the changes they face if we keep in touch with teachers at school


Contributed by PSG Member Maria Vida Sawit