Our parenting webinar for this November showcased two medical experts. The first speaker was Fr. James McTavish, FMVD who ably delivered a discussion on Understanding Conscience. We learned about the importance of guarding our hearts and loving God with our minds, and how crucial it is to develop and maintain a well-formed conscience. Fr. James gave the audience concrete examples where a healthy conscience is very much needed. One is awareness of the influence of social media. Don’t eat everything thrown at you! Another is the culture of corruption in society, which could very well begin in cheating in the classroom. The session ended with practical points on how to form our conscience. 

Our second expert speaker was pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist Dr. Jimmy Dumlao who shared his insights on Understanding Your Teen.  He expounded on normal psychosocial development of teens, stress management during online schooling and the pandemic, and physical and cyber-bullying. It was a great learning experience, especially for us parents with pre-teens or teens. A few take home points: Understanding your teen begins with understanding adolescent development, which differs very much from earlier childhood development.  Bullying exists, but with the right tools can be prevented and stopped.  Stress can be negative but many times are also positive. The goal is not to eliminate or to reduce stress, but to give your teen the means to manage stress. Lastly, open communication with your teen is key. 

We look forward to more opportunities to learn more for ourselves, for our students and for our community, as we continue to take care of each other in this new and better normal.