Event to help middle schoolers, parents gain new perspective

An upcoming event aims to bridge the communication gap between parents and middle schoolers, as well as show youth how to turn obstacles into opportunities.

“New Year, New Perspective” is geared toward students in grades 4-8 and their parents and will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the American Legion building on Market Street in Jennings. Sponsored by District Attorney Michael Cassidy and the Jeff Davis Parish Library, the program was created by Stephanie Broussard and Sheila Reed, founders of Breakthroughs, Etc. Participation is free and open to the public.

“This is a new school year and a new season in life for students who are becoming pre-teens and teenagers, and it’s a new season for their parents, too,” said Reed. “Parents and students can expect to walk away from the event with a new perspective.”

For those in grades 4-8, Broussard said, this time in their life can be scary, fragile and frustrating. Their parents often feel the same.

“Their children are trying to find their independence, they’re pulling away and they are not communicating with their parents like they once did,” she said. “Their brains and hormones are changing so much on top of what they face in the world. Parents need empathy to realize where their children are at this point in life.”

Next week’s event aims to help both parents and students learn.

“We feel that we’re not going to help these students if we don’t have support at home from parents,” Reed said. “We need parents’ understanding of what students are facing, too. The change has to happen in the family first.”

One area adults and youth must tackle is ownership and responsibility, she said. Many times parents do not want to see their children fail or they attempt to shield them from consequences.

“Sometimes parents need to let them fail and let them learn responsibility and accountability instead of bailing them out,” she said. “That is one very important way that students learn to make wiser decisions and work harder.”

In learning how to development a mindset of growth and forming new perspectives, Broussard said, obstacles can become opportunities.

“If a child goes into school and starts learning algebra, they might fail the first test,” she said. “Instead of looking at that as failure, students can see where they are starting to learn. You have to start somewhere, then you keep improving.”

New perspectives can be used within the home, too, Reed said. A child might be upset because their father is seldom home from work when the rest of the family is having a meal together.

“We can teach our child that the reason they are eating supper is because Dad is working hard to provide that meal,” Reed said. “It’s the little things that we can all look at differently to work through our frustrations.”

Cassidy said he decided to sponsor the event out of concern for the modern issues impacting youth.

“I think it is imperative that we find a way to start reaching our junior high students,” he said. “I strongly believe we need to be brutally honest with our junior high and early high school students on the issues and dangers they will be facing, and how to confront those issues.”

He said by teaching children how to avoid dangers and focus on building their futures, communities can be strengthened.

“Our children face problems every day and they see real-life issues online,” he said. “We can no longer hide from the fact that even very young kids know about drugs, sex, violence, bullying and other issues. As a community, we must be willing to teach our children how to confront situations in life.”

The event will include skits, dancing, singing and energizing activities, as well as appearances from Reed and Broussard’s alteregos, Millie and Mabel.

“So you aren’t just sitting there and listening to us talk,” Broussard laughed.

The two women said they have a passion to make meaningful differences in the lives of youth. Reed spent 25 years in the education system as a principal, teacher and librarian and is a certified life coach. Broussard has been speaking to audiences for 15 years and is a graduate of Core Energy Leadership Program and IPEC Life Coaching. A published author, one of her works, “Success Simplified,” was coauthored with Stephen Covey. Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is the basis of the Leader in Me program utilized in schools such as James Ward Elementary.

Breakthroughs, Etc. can be reached by calling (337) 370-1297 or (337) 580-5373 or by going to www.breakthroughsetc.com.