Helping Students Help Themselves

Imagine working all day for six bosses in six different departments with six different agendas who ask you to do work at home every night. All the while you are experiencing drastic physical changes, navigating new social cultures and tethered to a device that constantly begs for your attention. You are simultaneously concerned about acne, your future and the world. Oh, and your brain isn't yet fully developed.

Being a teen today is hard.

Parenting one is no picnic either.

According to a 2017 American College Health Association study, anxiety has overtaken depression as the most common reason high school and college students seek counseling services. What is a parent to do? How do you foster independence while providing guidance? Set them up for success while helping them learn from failure?

Student coach and author Lisa Marsicano hopes to help parents answer these questions when she presents "Understanding Your Role as a High School Parent: Supporting Perseverance & Independence in Your Student," Wednesday, October 3 at 7pm at Downers Grove South High School. The presentation is free, but registration is encouraged at www.grit2.org .

Hosted by grit2, a new local nonprofit focused on providing resources for parents of teens, the presentation will provide information on:

• The Challenges Facing Today's Parents and Students
• Keys to Self Management: Priorities, Organization and Planning and the School-Life Connection
• The Parent Role: When, How & How Much to Help
• Top 5 Parent Mistakes: Do's and Don'ts for Parents

"By high school, parents assume their kids have learned certain self-management and executive function skills, but the reality is most have not," says Marsicano. "We focus on providing practical strategies to foster independence and resilience in your child - skills that ultimately help guide students to success not only in high school, but also in college and life."

Marsicano is a leading expert in the Chicago area on executive function skills and the author of “A Manual for Student Success: Practical strategies for how to REALLY do better in school,” as well as a line of student planners and student success manuals. Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a Master of Arts in Teaching. She has received additional training through Rush Neurobehavioral Center and JST Coaching & Training

The presentation is the first speaker event hosted by grit2, a new nonprofit offering local education opportunities for parents focused on raising resilient teens in today's world. The group started informally in the fall of 2017 through conversations between a small group of Downers Grove moms concerned about issues their children face today such as stress, anxiety, depression, and social media/technology.

They realized many parents have the same concerns and that these issues are affecting teens in vast numbers, yet they had found few opportunities in the community where parents could vent frustrations, share resources, or connect with others in similar situations.

grit2 has reached out to District99 administrators, school counselors and mental wellness organizations to build partnerships and identify needs and opportunities in the area.

"We are excited to host Lisa as our first grit2 presentation and hope to continue to bring more speakers, resources and small group discussion opportunities to the area for parents and teens," says grit2 board member Melissa Nuttall.

Go to www.grit2.org for more information on the organization as well as to take the grit2 survey asking for input from the community on future topics and resources.