Introduction
Below you will find the audio podcast recording and the transcribed text for our first session. I’ll be curious to learn if you feel you need the text, since that’s the more time-consuming part. However, for now, we’ll do both and eventually see if just the audio recording is sufficient. I have left comments on, however please only comment if you are a LUNCH Groups® participating family, otherwise it will be deleted.
Audio Recording
Transcribed Text
Hi parents!
Tonight was the first night for the Group #4 (Teen Group). And, you know it really well. And we didn't have our full compliment of teams we have to the out sick, one wasn't able to make it at the last minute. And we have one more we're expecting for next time. So they'll be for additional teams. But we had, I think, was 10 tonight. And it was really nice. It's a, you know, it's a mix of, of returning members and new members. And of course, there's that settling in process. And on top of that they're teenagers.
You know, you never exactly know what's the best way to approach a situation we focused on is, I mean, first of all, course, you know, you drop them off, and we walked over to the office, and they're fine and settling in and being teenagers, they're talking a little bit, they're buried in their magazines. So I spoke to them. And one of the things I talked about was how we really strive to respect them. And we want to treat them more like adults and children, and how anywhere from one to three or four years from now, they're going to be adults. And so this is important, I talked about the fact that they can be forgetful, that sometimes they're having things happen to them that don't really have to do with parents or other people. And so that part of my work wasn't just sort of helping parents, quote, "fix their kids", but also talking to parents about how to understand teen issues and ways to work positively together. I felt like they responded to that, and we'll find out in time will tell, you know, I don't want to be preachy with them. And I don't want to lecture them. But at the same time, I want to acknowledge and kind of give them a sense of what we're hoping for them.
What was really interesting is that the session just got better and better as it went along. So we're talking with them, they created their nicknames, which we have them put on envelopes, and then their real names, so their nicknames can be used for internet-based projects that went very, very smoothly, they had questions about things. We had went to come in with a LUNCH Point. And even the LUNCH Points weren't supposed to officially have started yet, we didn't want to penalize his teen for having brought one. So he wound up reading it, and we kind of went through the process. And we went to giving him the raffle tickets for it seemed like it was an educational process for the other teens. And then I talked to them about LUNCH Points. And I shared with them some of the data that teenagers don't use it as much and tried to kind of understand why. I offered them the opportunity in addition to parents, giving them a lunch point to be able to give themselves a lunch point. And the reaction was not what I expected. And really interesting, one of the teens said that, as much as it might be kind of cool to give themselves when
they really like it, when their parents acknowledge they've done something positive. And another teen kind of spoke up saying something very similar, that it would feel a little funny to acknowledge themselves doing something.
So this is one of the things about teenagers that I love, they sort of have this I don't know, puppy like soft, shy underbelly if you will. But, you know, if you get them the right way, and you get them in the right mood they just turn over and they want to be scratched, metaphorically, if you will. They they really, you know, that hard shell and that irritating aloofness at times, kind of melts away.
So, we did that. And we talked for a while and we went through some different things. I also talked to them a fair amount about safety and environmental awareness. Because there are just so many distractions that teams are faced with these days, I really want them to know that we expect them to be aware of what's going on around them. And that's a tough one for a teenager for reasons that we'll talk about what I get to the neurobiology of teams and the webinars.
So at this point in time, it was time for dinner, and we went to Poquito Mas. It's right across the street. It's an easy walk, we know the menu really well. There's a nice big community table that we can usually get. And so they came in, they ordered and they began to gel, they began to talk more teens who were not who didn't know one another, we're talking more. One teen in particular, brought their chair all the way around and joined three other teens who were talking so it was really nice to see and Dr. Mazor and I were monitoring and occasionally giving out raffle tickets to them. We do it very unobtrusive way just as I talked to them about the fact that we videotape them less than we do the other groups
If they were talking about a subject that's a little bit sensitive, the odds are we're not going to videotape of because we want to give them their privacy. So that pretty much wrapped up the group for tonight. Not a lot to report no drama. We had one student who simply wasn't feeling well and we contacted their parent and they were picked up a little bit early. Otherwise it was a win win. It was really nice being with them. I'm looking forward to the others joining them and looking forward to talking about them then what goes on at the upcoming parent meetings. So that's it for now. But I would say a really enjoyable first session.
Thanks for listening.
Dr. G.