Parenting Tips: Helping Daughters Overcome Teen Challenges

CLICK TO HEAR MORE TIPS FROM TOSHIA SAFFORD AT THE CENTER FOR HEALTHY FAMILIES

As CEO of the Center for Healthy Families, Toshia Safford has earned a reputation throughout Central Ohio for excellence in successfully supporting and coaching parents and teens. 

Yet, even with her extensive professional and personal experience, Ms. Safford notes that young people today face challenges that she couldn’t fathom growing up, or even as she raised her own daughter.

"There are moments when our teens say something and I just hear, ‘Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,’” Ms. Safford says with a laugh. “I just have to say to them, ‘hey, I’m not quite following you. Give me a moment and let me sit with it.’”

Learning to accept and stay calm when teens are upset or anxious can serve parents well. Ms. Safford notes that often adolescents don’t necessarily want a caregiver to tell them all the answers. They simply hope an adult will listen and tell them that they are still okay, no matter how they feel.

“Sometimes parents don’t understand what it’s like to be rejected, whether it’s from the football team, the soccer team or cheerleading,” she explains. She advises parents to give up in trying to rationalize and instead adapt the attitude that, “it may be insane, but I’m going to sit with you in it.”

Ms. Safford points out that teens today face a myriad of tough issues and cites national research that captured spikes in the number of young people who suffer from depression and anxiety, as well as increases in youth suicide. 

She reminds us that teen girls, in particular are unique. “It is not one-size-fits-all,” she notes. “Girls are not monolithic. And for our girls today, with all the challenges they have to face, it’s about creating a safe space for them to be seen as well as heard.”

For these reasons and more, she sees affirmation and reassurance as critical to the effectiveness of the Center. The agency serves as a haven and support for pregnant and parenting teens, and young people who may be in the child welfare system, offering mentoring, coaching, access to health care, infant formula, diapers, housing, earning a GED or enrolling in post-secondary training—addressing basic needs and more complex behavioral issues.

“Our focus and goal are to make sure that we teach them the knowledge, skills and values to make a behavior change,” she says, adding that the Center strives to “break the cycle of disadvantage” that some teens face. 

Franklin County Children Services funds Center programming for teens and families in the child welfare system who navigate difficult obstacles and build healthier relationships with the guidance and wisdom of a trained navigator. 

Ms. Safford notes that while the world may be tough, “our girls are tougher. 

"Resiliency doesn’t happen overnight, but… it’s an opportunity to see beyond your front door and to know there is a twinkling of a light or hope at the end of the tunnel.”

Learn more about The Center for Healthy Families at www.centerforhealthyfamilies.org.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Forever Family Funfest Celebrates Power of Permanency

Image
Celebrating the nearly 300 children who found “forever homes” over the past year through adoption or finalization of a kinship placement, Franklin County Children Services hosted its first Forever Family Funfest. “When children can no longer safely remain in their parents’ custody, they deserve to have the permanent sense of belonging that comes with finding a family,” said Raquel Breckenridge, Family Service Director for Permanency. “And we want to celebrate those lasting connections.” Over the past year, more than 100 children and teenagers who were in the agency’s care found their forever homes through adoption. In addition, almost 200 children were permanently placed with family relatives - grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, or adult siblings - or close family friends such as teachers and coaches, church members, or neighbors. Dozens of those children and teens who found their forever homes through adoption or permanent kinship placement, along with their families and caregiv...
Read more

FCCS Volunteers Comfort, Care for Children during Crisis

Image
As a volunteer in Franklin County Children Services’ Crisis Center, Michalle DiGiovine fondly recalls dining on “pretend food” and playing “restaurant” with a promising culinary staff of five young children as they tried out recipes prepared on a plastic range.  “It felt good that they could come to me - a stranger - to pretend and laugh a little,” she said, remembering how she connected with the youngsters, all the under the age of 10, who had just endured an extremely traumatic experience at home. As January is National Mentoring Month, it’s a great time to recognize the Crisis Center volunteers who help protect children by allowing them to escape from tumultuous situations for a time and feel safe and cared for.  Mentors and volunteers play an important role at FCCS in surrounding children who come into the agency’s care with kindness and support, letting children know they are not alone. It’s part of the agency’s strategy to protect the “whole” child - mind, body, and hear...
Read more

Foster Mom Opens Heart, Home to Teens While Families Heal

Image
Maggie Baxter is very excited about getting her 17-year-old foster daughter Rylie ready for prom this weekend. “We’re getting her nails done today and her hair done tomorrow.”  “I can’t believe I get to be a ‘prom mom’!” This is just part of the joy Ms. Baxter and her husband Austin experience as foster parents. During National Foster Care Month this May, Franklin County Children Services is celebrating the caring adults who open their homes and hearts to the hundreds of children in Central Ohio who need safe, stable, and loving places to stay. While being a foster parent can be very challenging at times, the Baxters relish having a full house to offer normalcy and stability to youth while helping families heal. In addition to Rylie, they currently foster two sisters, ages 10 and 17, while caring for their own daughters, ages 10 and 14.  Having lots of people around the house is nothing new for the couple. “My husband comes from a big family. I’m one of four,” Ms. Baxter said....
Read more