The New Hampshire Teen Institute, an organization focused on empowering teenagers, will hold upcoming workshops in English and Spanish to help parents and caregivers support young people with pandemic-related stress and other questions related to their age.
According to the Institute, parents often ask how COVID and new family dynamics might have changed their children’s socialization skills.
Samantha Worth, an instructor from the Teen Institute, says teens are more connected than ever to their parents.
“I think from the connection standpoint; there are a lot of good things that have come up from the pandemic,” she said.
But Worth also says one of the most challenging stages of being a teenager is learning how to make decisions within their peer group, and the pandemic has interrupted some of that skill-building.
Lisa Vasquez, a community outreach worker of the Nashua Division of Public Health, says readapting to routines, like returning to school in person, is one of the most difficult challenges for an adolescent.
The division translated the family program to Spanish because Latino parents are usually left behind in this kind of education.
“Immigrant teenagers have to navigate two worlds, and even if the parents are going through the same, it’s not equal,” Vasquez said.
During the program, parents will learn other skills, like setting boundaries, supervising without invading and how to have difficult conversations so families feel connected to their home and their community.
To get more information you can call the Nashua Division of Public Health or Lisa Vasquez at 603-589-4538
