FORUM & NEWSLETTERS

 

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Click Here to Download Previous Newsletters (see below for contents)

 

WHAT’S THE FORUM ABOUT?

The Life Talk Forum is a confidential platform with a “bird’s eye view” of the adolescent and parenting world, subscription is free, and it:

  • Provides parents with an opportunity to receive and share relevant information, and to discuss issues, challenges and ideas.
  • Provides a mechanism to enhance communication between parents and adolescents.
  • Enables teenagers to confidentially share their feelings and views, and to ask sensitive questions.
  • Enables schools and counsellors to convey important messages and parenting tips.
  • Promotes values and an enhanced “family focus”.
  • Provides all parties with a confidential sounding board on life’s challenges.
  • Works on joint awareness-building initiatives with individuals and organisations that share our vision (see the joint ARA initiative below).

The Life Talk Forum’s mission is to: raise awareness about the issues and challenges faced by teens; focus on solutions; trigger change where necessary; and to help create happy, successful and fulfilled youth guided by sound values.

 

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Author of the best-selling Life Talk for a Daughter, Life Talk for a Son and Life Talk for Parents, Izabella Little, co-ordinates the Forum, and the format is primarily by email, electronic newsletter and talks given at schools and other venues.

Input comes from parents, teenagers, and a network of experts comprising: psychologists, counsellors, principals, teachers, career guidance specialists, experts in drug and alcohol abuse, and other expertise that may be required.

Subscription is free (by completing the details listed above), past newsletters can be downloaded by clicking the above link, and new newsletters will be dispatched to all subscribers as and when they are produced.

Workshops and talks can be arranged on request. See TALKS PAGE

SOME OF THE TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:

  • Teenage alcohol consumption and drug abuse.
  • Divorce & minimizing its impact.
  • Sexuality and the increasingly young age at which sexual activity starts.
  • Single parenting challenges.
  • Depression, ADHD, OCD, Bi-polar and eating disorders.
  • Self-esteem, self-respect and feeling accepted.
  • Discipline & boundary-setting.
  • Peer pressure.
  • Bullying.

THE “LIFE TALK TUG-OF-WAR” INITIATIVE

As reported to the Forum, our children are increasingly exposed to: alcohol, drugs, bullying, sexual activity, peer pressure, divorce, HIV/ AIDS, crime, pornography and other challenges – and even the “strongest” teens are often vulnerable. Parents face their own challenges (communication, single-parenting, enforcing boundaries, marital, financial or other stresses) and often struggle to navigate some of these trickier years.

 

Life Talk Tug-of-War is an awareness-building initiative that tackles these challenges, and provides suggestions for addressing them in a practical and proactive manner. The initiative’s ultimate aim is to galvanize families, schools, corporates, the media and society into action. It’s about winning the “tug-of-war” that is taking place in our children’s lives.

 

If we all pull together we can create a great tomorrow for our youth

GO TO THE TUG-OF-WAR PAGE TO SEE HOW.

 

JOINT INITIATIVE WITH THE ARA:

The Life Talk Forum and the ARA are running a joint initiative to address the rapidly growing problem of underage drinking. (The Industry Association for Responsible Alcohol Use (ARA), was established by the major producers of alcohol beverages in South Africa with the mission to reduce alcohol-related harm through combating the misuse and abuse of alcohol beverages and promoting only their responsible use by adults.)

The initiative involves alerting parents and teens to the reality of underage drinking, the trends, and the tragic consequences experienced by a growing number of adolescents. Of the heartbreak stories shared with the Life Talk Forum, alcohol lies at the root of the majority of these. Thousands of young lives are being damaged and often destroyed, all because of teen alcohol consumption.

As parents, educators and as society at large, we have to do something urgently to avoid this ongoing and escalating heartbreak and loss. We need to raise awareness, to stimulate debate, to highlight solutions and key areas, and ultimately to trigger a change in certain behaviour. Every day without action means yet more lives lost or broken.

Hence the extensive awareness-building programmes being initiated. And there’s room for everyone to play a role. Whether you are a parent, educator, business or government leader, celebrity, in the media, or a concerned citizen, there’s so much we can all do! If you’d like to help or become involved in any way, we’d love to hear from you. Email us today on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any ideas or suggestions you may have.

 

 

CONTENTS OF NEWLETTERS:

 

NEWS 1:

  • Teen drinking
  • Drugs
  • Clubs & clubbing
  • Cell phones
  • Pocket money
  • Q & A: Porn; Communication; Signs of drug addiction; Self-esteem

NEWS 2:

  • Discipline
  • Depression
  • Drugs/alcohol
  • Cell phones
  • Grade 8 problems
  • Q & A: sexual activity; Boredom; Self-mutilation; Eating disorder; Drug use; Language skills; Self-esteem; Good books

NEWS 3:

  • Bullying
  • Subject choices
  • Sexual abuse
  • Matric rave week
  • ADD & ADHD
  • Q & A: Values & family; Sexual experimentation; Ritalin options; Single parenting; Self-esteem; Forum's aims

NEWS 4:

  • Tips on communication
  • Values for teens
  • Signs of sexual abuse
  • Q & A: Heavy drinking at 16; Rebellious & cheeky teen; Grade 11 dagga; Sleepover & drinking at 13; Divorce effects; Dating after divorce.

NEWS 5:

  • Facebook
  • Parenting: authoritarian, permissive or democratic?
  • Divorce & the adolescent
  • Cell phone camera issues
  • Self-esteem
  • Drugs
  • Q & A: MXit gude; Monster teen; Sexual activity; Communication

NEWS 6:

  • Violence, alcohol & death
  • Sexual bullies
  • Spoilt-brat bullies
  • Talking sex
  • Self-esteem: media's impact
  • Q & A: Only child tips; Imaginary friends; Angry child; Older boyfriend; Crime's effects; Sex with teacher.

NEWS 7:

  • Facebook
  • Online dangers
  • Drug use
  • Hubbly Bubbly
  • EMO
  • Drink spiking
  • Gonzo porn
  • Q & A: Drugs being used & where they ar found; Parenting tips

NEWS 8:

  • 'Eye drops' & drink spiking
  • MXit cost alert
  • 'Rape me' games
  • Counsellors
  • Parents' self-esteem
  • Q & A: 15-year-old's pregnancy; SMSing causing lack of sleep; Boyfriend on drugs; Son victimised; Remarried dad.

NEWS 9:

  • What's worrying parents & schools?
  • Launch of Life Talk for Parents
  • Self-harm / cutting
  • Are fake IDs OK?

NEWS 10:

  • Hubbly Bubbly - important info!
  • Chewing tobacco
  • Fake ID: a teen's story
  • Head injuries

NEWS 11:

  • Anti-teen drinking initiatives
  • Initiation or bullying?
  • A drug dealer's alert to parents
  • Divorce
  • Cults
  • Mental illness; bi-polar
  • Retrouvaille & help for marriages
  • Parenting Forums
  • FAMSA workshops

NEWS 12:

  • Tug-of-War launch and why we all need to pull together
  • Pornography: why is it so dangerous now?
  • Porn addiction: causes and consequences
 
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