Page 37 - Silver Lakes Issue 3 March 2023

TODAY’S CHILD

because people have been having kids since
the dawn of time.

But the world we are navigating is vastly
different from what any generations
before has dealt with. I have written about
this previously. The older generation
(grandparents, older friends, etc) may
unintentionally provide misplaced ideas
because they function in a different
generational era.

Previous generational demands have little
place in the current context purely because
the context is so vastly different. Our parents
and grandparents are seen as being the
guardians of the old, the old ways of doing
things, which don’t fit in a technologically teens in the same way as a parent interprets a highly tumultuous and shifting global
driven world. There are, of course, valuable it. That’s normal: an adult sees things from landscape and time (COVID-19, unrest,
insights that older people provide and I am the vantage point of experience, while a social media, riots, etc). Sometimes the
not negating these, but these are not the teen has lots of living and learning to do. ones needing to unpack the narrative are
instances I am referring to. Sometimes this works in the parents’ favour, the parents.
but not always.
I am referring to the older generation’s So, parents, here’s the lesson: When you
inability to grasp that this is how things are Teens may interpret the same event as you feel overwhelmed, it’s comforting to know
done now because children are growing up with fresher eyes and knowledge gained that you can control your words and your
in such a rapidly changing environment, even in a much shorter time-frame and within behaviour – that is where the power lies!
their parents are having difficulty keeping up.

Staying true to out-of-date views or
principles will prevent you from moving
productively and functionally into the world
of your children. By maintaining the old idea
that “this is the way it is done”, you become
immobilised because you have limited
behaviours to use – and these behaviours
don’t necessarily work anymore. Retain the
good, but quickly move away from anything
that limits you. Develop and grow with your o Marital, Couples & Family Therapy
children. o Counselling Children, Adolescents & Adults

o “Teen” Challenges
Social media has been very helpful in keeping
us connected to our loved ones and providing o Behavioural & Adjustment Challenges
us with entertainment. Unfortunately, it also o Stress-Related Challenges
provides us with an overload of both factual
and fictitious information. It is okay to take o Adjustment to Depression & Anxiety
a break from all the online “noise” to care o Subject & Career Psychometric Testing
for yourself. With so much information at
our fingertips, we sometimes think that if For an appointment please call
we look away for a second, we will miss 083 376 1995
something. You won’t. It will be there when
you get back to your screen. Fees are charged according to Scale of Benefits
Practice Address: 27 Fish Eagle Street, Silver lakes, Pretoria
Something on social media or in teenage Pr. Nr. 0860000114022 | Reg. No.: PS 0080543
interactions is not necessarily interpreted by

INTRAMUROS MARCH 2023 | 35