A new range of video interviews where young people reveal what they wished their parents knew when they’d been through tough times are now available on ReachOut Parents. The insightful interviews aim to help parents to better understand what their teenagers are feeling and how to support them.
The interviews surface real stories from seven young people from Sydney and Canberra, covering topics including self-esteem, having an ‘attitude’, stress and social media.
Sophie, a 21-year-old ReachOut Youth Ambassador from Sydney, talks about her parents chiming in on social media.
‘Part of the way I interact with my friends is through messaging them, and it's not just purely face-to-face interaction, like maybe when she was growing up. As a parent … think when you were 16, if you had your friends over for a little party or something, would you really want your parents coming in and, like, joining in on the conversation and trying to hang out? Social media is the way that young people hang out today,’ says Sophie.
Colin, a 19-year-old ReachOut Youth Ambassador from Canberra, says that when a parent accuses their teenager of having an ‘attitude’, it can really be explained by a breakdown in communication.
‘From my perspective, having an attitude is just a breakdown in communication. Oftentimes the people that you're fighting with are the people that you care about or the people that you're closest to,’ says Colin.
Colin adds that calling it an ‘attitude’ doesn’t necessarily help, and that it’s sometimes better to put a heated conversation on hold.
‘If you guys have an issue, you don’t … you're not obligated to work it out immediately. You can have a discussion, and if it gets too heated, just say, “Hey, look, we're getting, er, too heated right now. We need to take a step back, just cool down. We'll come back to this later. We can talk about this at dinner, or after dinner. Or we can talk about this tomorrow. We can both sleep on it,” ’ adds Colin.
Neha, a 24-year-old ReachOut Youth Ambassador from Sydney, shared how her mum has helped her with stress.
‘I think my mum's been really great when I've been stressed. She’s always saying “Let's get you out of the house. Let's go do something fun. Let’s go shopping or go have lunch or do something to distract you,” which has really helped me. My mum and my dad always tell me, “You can't control how the external influences may impact you. But what you can control is how you deal with it,” ’ says Neha.
Saria, a 20-year-old BeingHerd speaker from Batyr, said she wished her parents knew that she’d been hiding issues with self-esteem, and that her relationship with her parents played a role.
‘Pretending to be confident was so convincing that my parents really had no idea that I had issues with self-esteem. For me, low self-esteem sort of manifested in trying to prove myself and always kind of seeking their approval as well,’ says Saria.
When asked what helped, Saria says, ‘They didn't really give me advice. They just sort of became a lot more aware of certain comments that would affect me.’
Jono Nicholas, CEO of ReachOut, says ‘Parents tell us that they don’t know what to say to their teenager, and teenagers tell us their parents don’t understand what they’re going through.
‘With these video stories, we’re trying to bridge communication between teenagers and their parents, creating a mutual understanding that ultimately helps more young people through difficult times.’
The video stories are one of a range of help formats for parents, which also include video explainers from child psychologists and other specialists, fact sheets and forums. The ReachOut Parents Forums provide a comfortable, accessible space where parents can learn strategies and insights from other parents about helping their teenagers through tough times.
Stay tuned for more videos from ReachOut Parents by signing up to our newsletter.
The interviews surface real stories from seven young people from Sydney and Canberra, covering topics including self-esteem, having an ‘attitude’, stress and social media.
Sophie, a 21-year-old ReachOut Youth Ambassador from Sydney, talks about her parents chiming in on social media.
‘Part of the way I interact with my friends is through messaging them, and it's not just purely face-to-face interaction, like maybe when she was growing up. As a parent … think when you were 16, if you had your friends over for a little party or something, would you really want your parents coming in and, like, joining in on the conversation and trying to hang out? Social media is the way that young people hang out today,’ says Sophie.
Colin, a 19-year-old ReachOut Youth Ambassador from Canberra, says that when a parent accuses their teenager of having an ‘attitude’, it can really be explained by a breakdown in communication.
‘From my perspective, having an attitude is just a breakdown in communication. Oftentimes the people that you're fighting with are the people that you care about or the people that you're closest to,’ says Colin.
Colin adds that calling it an ‘attitude’ doesn’t necessarily help, and that it’s sometimes better to put a heated conversation on hold.
‘If you guys have an issue, you don’t … you're not obligated to work it out immediately. You can have a discussion, and if it gets too heated, just say, “Hey, look, we're getting, er, too heated right now. We need to take a step back, just cool down. We'll come back to this later. We can talk about this at dinner, or after dinner. Or we can talk about this tomorrow. We can both sleep on it,” ’ adds Colin.
Neha, a 24-year-old ReachOut Youth Ambassador from Sydney, shared how her mum has helped her with stress.
‘I think my mum's been really great when I've been stressed. She’s always saying “Let's get you out of the house. Let's go do something fun. Let’s go shopping or go have lunch or do something to distract you,” which has really helped me. My mum and my dad always tell me, “You can't control how the external influences may impact you. But what you can control is how you deal with it,” ’ says Neha.
Saria, a 20-year-old BeingHerd speaker from Batyr, said she wished her parents knew that she’d been hiding issues with self-esteem, and that her relationship with her parents played a role.
‘Pretending to be confident was so convincing that my parents really had no idea that I had issues with self-esteem. For me, low self-esteem sort of manifested in trying to prove myself and always kind of seeking their approval as well,’ says Saria.
When asked what helped, Saria says, ‘They didn't really give me advice. They just sort of became a lot more aware of certain comments that would affect me.’
Jono Nicholas, CEO of ReachOut, says ‘Parents tell us that they don’t know what to say to their teenager, and teenagers tell us their parents don’t understand what they’re going through.
‘With these video stories, we’re trying to bridge communication between teenagers and their parents, creating a mutual understanding that ultimately helps more young people through difficult times.’
The video stories are one of a range of help formats for parents, which also include video explainers from child psychologists and other specialists, fact sheets and forums. The ReachOut Parents Forums provide a comfortable, accessible space where parents can learn strategies and insights from other parents about helping their teenagers through tough times.
Stay tuned for more videos from ReachOut Parents by signing up to our newsletter.
