Rollercoasters usually give us a choice: hop on or watch from the sidelines. But if we’re parents of – or carers for – adolescents, we’ve got no choice: we have to hop on the adolescent rollercoaster and try to survive the ride of our lives, and theirs.
Surviving the Ride on the Adolescent Rollercoaster is a Time & Space keynote presentation for parents and carers who may have forgotten that inside their tempest of a teenager is that little kid who was so adorable. Yes, he or she is still in there. And they need you more than ever.
Surviving the Ride focuses on memory. We remember together what makes our teens special. We also remember who were the people who showed up for us when we were teenagers. Who helped us survive the ride? And we look at how we can together be there for our kids as we ride this rollercoaster with them.
Surviving the Ride is an interactive (anyone remember vinyl records?) and fun presentation that schools can tailor to any length or event, e.g. a parents’ breakfast. As we talk and share, we’ll make an important discovery: we might be on a ride similar to the Superman rollercoaster on the Gold Coast, but we don’t have to be ‘super-parents’. We can take the ride confident that our imperfections make us human. And that’s what our teenagers need us to be.