Teen Relationship Email Series Click Here

Teen Leadership Cohort Click Here

The podcast link to This is So Awkward

Welcome to "Leaders of Today: Teens to Titans," the podcast dedicated to empowering our youth to become the leaders of tomorrow. We’re kicking off a new series focused on helping parents and teens navigate the complex world of teenage relationships. This series will cover relationships with peers, dating partners, parents, and friends. Each episode will provide valuable insights and strategies to support your teen through these formative years. Stay tuned until the end to find out how you can join our email series and gain access to all the resources we discuss today.

The teenage years are crucial for developing relationships that shape one’s identity and future interactions. This series aims to provide parents with insights and strategies to help teens navigate relationships with peers, dating partners, parents, and classmates. It is not an easy task, as relationships become more complex during these years, and our kids often share less information with us. As a teen leadership coach, I understand firsthand how challenging these years can be. I needed these resources for myself as a teen and now as a parent of teenagers.

Today, we’re diving into peer relationships. When working with teens in the leadership cohort, one of the most impactful activities is a discussion about integrity. We explore what integrity means and the challenges associated with it. Peer relationships in middle and high school are highly influential. Every teen wants to belong, and sometimes they will go to great lengths to feel accepted. The group they belong to might not be the one they or we, as parents, desire. This dynamic is challenging for both teens and parents.

Every parent and teen faces situations where teens might act out, try new things, or shut down entirely. These behaviors are often responses to the pressure to belong and be accepted. Discussing integrity helps teens reflect on their behavior by sharing experiences they've witnessed. It provides a safe space to evaluate what they would want done for them in similar situations, fostering empathy, awareness, and kindness. This activity is most effective in a group setting, where teens can hear and learn from each other.

We start with a question like: "You walk into the cafeteria and see another student sitting alone. None of your friends think twice about it, but you do. What do you do?" They don’t have to act on what they say they would do, but thinking about it initiates the integrity conversation. This discussion is invaluable, and I love facilitating it. I know they will think about their peers differently the next time they enter the cafeteria. What they do is up to them, but they will have considered their actions, which is more than most students do.

Join our next info session to see if your teen is ready to join the Young Teen Leadership Cohort. By participating, your teen will engage in meaningful discussions and activities that help them navigate their relationships with integrity and empathy.

Want to stay updated and receive all the resources we’ll be discussing in this series? Sign up for our email series by following the link in the show notes. You'll gain access to valuable tools and information to support your teen through their journey.

If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with other parents who might benefit from this conversation. Together, we can support our teens in navigating their relationships and becoming the leaders of tomorrow.