Adolescence is a particularly stressful period as biological, emotional, cognitive and social changes begin to align in a person. With this awareness, BRAC University puts emphasis on parents, family members and societal supports for the students who face a variety of challenges in personal development, academic performance and social adjustments.
In this regard, the Counseling Unit of BRAC University organized a seminar on Parenting on Saturday, May 28, 2016 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at BRAC University auditorium. The main objectives of the seminar were to gather information about parents’ experience of dealing with their adolescent children and promote and convey the significance of the contributions of the parents and family members toward students' success and wellbeing during their first year at the university.
Renowned counseling psychologist Dr. Mehtab Khanam, Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, University of Dhaka, and Safina Binte Enayet, Psychosocial Counselor and Lecturer, Counseling Unit, BRAC University were the key speakers at the seminar. Safina Binte Enayet initiated the first session, discussing about different types of nurturing and structuring patterns of communication that parents often use with children and how parents and other family members can contribute to the development of the adolescents. This was followed by a group work, conducted by the members of the Counseling Unit, where parents reflected on the suggested nurturing and structuring ways of communicating with their children. Each group was given a simulated situation and asked to write down different ways of communication using those nurturing and structuring patterns. Next, Dr. Mehtab Khanam took over the discussion about how to communicate during these simulated situations and participated in an interactive question-answer session with the parents in this regard.
Parents expressed a great deal of contentment since the session was very experiential and interactive. The seminar was concluded by a vote of thanks from Dr. Khanam to the organizers of the seminar and to the parents.