Our Year 10 students were the first cohort this year to enjoy a presentation by one of The Parenting Place’s Attitude Team. Attitude is the teenage arm of The Parenting Place, and their presenters come into school to talk about some of life’s tougher issues.
The messages are always filled with humour – while imparting wisdom – and last week’s Hardwired talk was no exception. Jannah Hibberd addressed the question of why people do things that are bad for them. She talked about our need for friends (and how that can influence us to make bad choices), wanting to avoid boredom, and wanting to feel better.
Jannah suggested that everyone needs to make choices that are right for them, and while it’s easy to be swayed by friends, friends aren’t the ones who have to live with the consequences of bad decisions. She touched on drugs and alcohol, and how they can be used to mask pain. “Turning to something to mask the pain doesn’t take it away,” she said. “It’s still there when the buzz wears off.” An alternative is to find someone to talk to and meet those needs in a healthy way. She touched on the myth of “I’ll just try this once” and encouraged students to weigh up the good against the bad when making decisions.