When children become teenagers and when teenagers move towards independence and adulthood, parents can find themselves struggle with parenting. They may find boundary setting challenging, or have no experience of the issues their young people are facing, or are just not sure how best to support them into adult life.
Parents of teenagers are looking for information. The 'teenagers' section of the information for parents on the PAS website is one of the most visited sections. One of the most frequently-used search terms is 'parenting classes' + 'teenagers'. Over a third of calls to Parentline are from parents of teenagers.
The Scottish Government's National Parenting Strategy pledged to look at information and support for parents of teenagers including the national information available to them. It commissioned CHILDREN 1st to map national information for parents* which concluded that there was 'very little information available for parents of teenage children'.
So, PAS commissioned market research to see what information parents of teenagers would find helpful, and how and where they prefer to find information. In April, PAS held a seminar to discuss the findings of this research and to launch the associated report: Let's talk teens: what do parents of teenagers want to know about the teenage years?
Attended by over 80 people including practitioners, policy makers and others, the seminar provided the opportunity for participants to learn about the research findings; listen to presentations; watch a Young Scot DVD in which young people say what they want from parents; and take part in roundtable discussions.
At the seminar, Deborah Gallagher, Scottish Government, restated the Scottish Government's commitment to the National Parenting Strategy and announced that there will be a National Parenting Strategy event later this year (2014) to review progress 18 months on.
This report summarises the main points from the seminar presentations and participant discussions; and sets out the conclusions which emerged.
We hope that this seminar and report will help to inform government, NHS boards, voluntary organisations and others about what parents of teenagers want, and to improve information for parents of teenagers.
*CHILDREN 1st, 2013. Mapping current sources of national information and advice and how this is delivered to parents and carers across Scotland. CHILDREN 1st: Edinburgh