Hi there! Welcome to our bonus newsletter edition! We’ve gathered a selection of resources for you to dive deeper into topics we’ve covered in this month’s newsletter.
This month’s theme is teen dating and relationship – romantic and platonic. Through these weeks, we discussed supporting your teen through a toxic relationship, modeling healthy relationship habits, ways to give a genuine compliment, and how to be a friend to your teen.
🤓 Things we’re reading:
Love is Respect is the national resource to disrupt and prevent unhealthy relationships** by empowering youth through inclusive education, support and resources. For this month’s Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, they’ve provided simple ways and scripts for you and your teen to take action and spread the message to your loved ones.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has compiled an extensive list of resources to support you in learning how to talk to your teen about healthy relationships and consent. We especially love the parent discussion guide with conversation starters on traits of a healthy dating partner, and how to respond if your teen is going through a toxic relationship.
As working parents, there is so much to balance that friendships tend to be placed in the back burner. This post reminds us about the importance of nurturing our friendships at any stage of life because of how they add to our emotional well-being and boost work performance. Through the researched strategy of bundling, creating shared experience by combining two friends’ mundane life tasks, you can make friendships part of your routine and make the balancing act easier.
Scarleteen is a grassroots education and support organization and website that presents inclusive, comprehensive and supportive sexuality and relationship information for teens and young adults. They cover topics like “Is sex positivity just another version of the male gaze” to “Why won’t anyone date me?” and others on sexual identity, health, politics, safety.
👂🏼 What we’re listening to:
The One Conversation podcast has the goal of holding empowering conversations about relationship violence and abuse, providing self-empowerment, and making space to deconstruct and come together in solidarity on these issues. Their episodes on online dating risks and tips, how technology is used in abusive relationships, dangers of grooming, how to talk to your teen about dating violence, and toxic friendships are packed with advice, personal stories and insights of navigating through these difficult topics.
Parent-teen researcher Andy Earle talks with various experts about the art and science of parenting teens. This month, we loved episodes with Gia Lynne on how to adopt a “sex positive education” approach instead to set your teen up for sexual success; with Dr. Larry J. Young on the hormones that drive us to form deep bonds and increasing your teen’s oxytocin to nurture a sociable adult; and lastly tips on how to tackle “the talk” and make them less awkward with Andrea Brand.
👀 What we’re watching:
In Dopamine: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Dr. Anne Lembke, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine explores the secret to finding balance in our dopamine-overloaded world, especially digital dopamine for our wired generation. She discusses why the relentless pursuit of pleasure and our compulsive overconsumption leads to pain, and what we can do about it. Listen to her speak more about it on March 3rd 5-6pm PST at an Open Mind Program hosted by The Friends of Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA —register for free here!
If you struggle with giving compassion to yourself, take some me-time to attend a self-compassion workshop led by the pioneering researcher of self-compassion and professor Human Development at the Uof Texas Dr. Kristen Neff. Hosted with the Centrum for Mindfulness, this unique workshop on March 15 will draw on practices in her new book Fierce Self-Compassion, sharing how to draw effective boundaries, value yourself and your needs, utilize techniques to increase fierce self-compassion in everyday life. For more information and registration, take a look here!
🙏🏼 To share with your teen:
The Open Mind Film Festival 2022, hosted by UCLA’s Semel Institute, is open for short film submissions from high school students about mental health issues. Your teen can use their phone or video camera to creatively tell their unique story about their mental health journey, and be in the running for $1000 in prize money. Submissions are due March 11, and the Festival will be hosted on April 28 by singer/songwriter Grace Gaustad.
If they’ve ever felt like no one else understands their heartbreak, this short video created by The Cut of 100 teens sharing their heartbreak stories may help them feel a little less alone.
❤️ As seen on Instagram
About Cherish
We know being a parent can be tough - and it’s even tougher as your kids hit their teenage years. That’s why we created Cherish to support you each step of the way! Cherish combines research and empathetic support through 1:1 coaching, curated parent circles, and personalized content to help you develop the skills, awareness, and community needed to parent confidently. Ready to start your journey with us? Check out our 1:1 coaching here.
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