Speaker Series connects parents with teenagers

Speaker Series guest Dr. Laura Kastner, Ph.D. gave her lecture entitled “Getting to Calm: Parenting Teens and Tweens” for parents at Mountain View High School last night, October 20 from 7 to 9 p.m.

The Speaker Series is a sequence of five or six Parent Education lectures that are put together by the MVLA PTSA, Parent Education chairs and District Superintendent Dr. Barry Groves.

Kastner’s lecture focused on her book “Getting to Calm,” which guides parents through “hot button” challenges with teens such as academic and social conflicts.

Her talk explained how appropriate attitudes from a teenager’s parents affect the way their teenager responds to them to create a more balanced, understanding relationship.

“I hope that [parents left] feeling reassured that their challenges with teens are normal and will not stand in the way of their raising successful, well-adjusted young adults,” Kastner said. “I hope they understand that when their teens are moody, argumentative and impulsive that they are just showing the changes that teens undergo with [puberty and] development.”

Kastner is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington.

MVLA PTSA Council Parent Education Chair Sharon Greenstein made the decision to have Kastner speak for a second time last night, and took main responsibility for organizing the event.

“So many parents were interested in hearing more about [“Getting to Calm”] that we decided to bring her back this year,” Greenstein said.

Kastner had already spoken as a part of the Speaker Series last April. She had given a lecture on her book “The Launching Years: Strategies for Parenting from Senior Year to College Life,” which talked about the hardships in learning to let go of one’s children.

She also incorporated a portion of her most recent book, “Getting to Calm: Cool-Headed Strategies for Parenting Teens and Tweens,” into the lecture, which was the focus of last night’s talk.

“I want to make sure parents [are able to] go home with real tools,” Kastner said. “It’s about making a difference in our relationships.”