Joint Activity 10
Why Parents Worry

Have teens and their parents work as a pair. If the group is large, have
several parent-teen pairs form a group.

Have the parents talk to their teens about things they did when they were
teens (humorously warn parents not to share anything they might regret
later).

Have parents describe: risk taking they engaged in that made their
parents worry and why they did it (what they were thinking and feeling).
Risk taking can include: trying out for a school play, skateboarding,
wilderness camping, teen-only road trips, smoking, drinking, other drug
experimentation, sexual experimentation, getting tattoos, …

Have the parents share how their parents reacted to their risk taking and
how they felt about their parents reactions then and now.

Finally, have parents talk about why they worry about their own children
and what would be acceptable and unacceptable risk taking in which the
adolescent could engage.