Questão de Língua Inglesa

Execução: Fundatec 869_CE_16_NS_DM 19/4/202416:11:59 Teaching Teens How to Understand Their Feelings is Key to Helping Them Grow and Mature By Good News Network 01 Parents who solely focus on ‘fixing behavior’ will leave their teenager feeling misunderstood, 02 according to a new book, “How Do You Hug a Cactus?”, which advocates for ‘Reflective Parenting’ 03 and understanding what goes on in the teenage brain. Teaching teenagers how to understand their 04 feelings is “key” to helping them mature into resilient and independent adults, says the author, Dr. 05 Sheila Redfern, a London-based clinical child psychologist. She says that rather than focusing on 06 stamping out difficult behaviors, parents should teach their kids to manage their feelings and 07 relationships in safe ways: “Understanding the neuroscience of the changing teenage brain can 08 really help parents to empathize and connect with their teenage children.” 09 Reflective parenting allows parents to support teenagers in coming up with their own ideas 10 about how they are going to meet challenges when these arise. “The focus is on keeping a 11 connection with your teenager and helping them to manage, sometimes overwhelming and 12 unwanted, feelings. This is one of the most important skills for life you can teach your teenager— 13 you will help them to gain independence and develop skills for life.” One key concept of reflective 14 parenting is for parents to check in with themselves: if they are experiencing strong emotions they 15 should take some time and reflect, before launching a conversation. Then the parent can approach 16 a teen’s emotional distress using validation and empathy, by describing how they are feeling and 17 avoiding putting their own opinion across. 18 The author notes that the teenage years are an extremely crucial time for mental development, 19 and teens are much more at risk of mental illness. Research suggests that there are three basic 20 bio-behavioral systems that enable humans to adapt to a complex social environment: the reward 21 system; the ‘mentalizing’, or ‘social cognition’ system, which is our capacity to understand 22 ourselves and others in terms of our feelings, desires, and values; and finally the stress and threat 23 system. Redfern says that during adolescence, these three bio-behavioral systems are being 24 reorganized in the brain and this reorganization of the systems leads to patterns of thinking, 25 behavior, and responses to others that may be difficult to understand, seem illogical, highly 26 reactive, or self-destructive. This is because teens process information with the amygdala—the 27 emotional part of the brain, leading them to be preoccupied with their own emotions, and less able 28 to tune into other people. 29 She describes that this emotionally charged brain can make assumptions that feel like fact, and 30 become a mindset—thoughts like ‘no one likes me, I am alone’. When teens lose their ability to be 31 reflective because of changes in their brains parents can step in and help guide the process. While 32 reflective parenting may bring about a greater connection between you and your teen, and 33 hopefully even a calmness and enhanced understanding of your relationship – it is important to 34 maintain strong boundaries. “Reflecting on thoughts and feelings alone is not the type of parenting 35 being advocated here. Boundaries still count, and so does parental authority,” concludes Redfern, 36 whose website has many articles that explain more. None of us can be a reflective parent all of the 37 time, because our emotions rise and fall along with events, but we can try to do better next time 38 by learning some of these best practices. (Available in: www.goodnewsnetwork.org/teaching-teens-how-to-understand-their-feelings-is-key-to-helpingthem-grow-and-mature/ - text especially adapted for this test).