This week's PSHE lesson

 

We had two PSHE lessons this week. 

My feelings are all over the place

Yesterday (Tuesday) we talked about emotions and how during puberty emotions and feelings can be heightened. 

The neuroscience behind brain development in adolescence is fascinating and  understanding the development of teenagers' brains can help us understand physically why they may have certain reactions. One part of the brain which can explain why teenagers can suddenly start interpreting hostility and conflict from events and spoken words (that adults may see as neutral and well intentioned) is the limbic system. The limbic system is responsible for processing emotions such as anger and sensitivity to danger and as this area develops teenagers and preteens can become very sensitive to perceived criticism and potential threats. Meanwhile the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for reasoning, thinking, logic, creativity and controlling one's behaviour, doesn't fully develop until the mid twenties. This is why teenagers and young adults can be ruled by their emotions and can have less regard for potential consequences. 

I thought it may be helpful for you as parents and carers to have an understanding of why your child might start acting differently in the future and to try to not take these behaviours personally. 

In class, will shared some role plays as either a teenager or parent to demonstrate the art of compromise exploring potential areas of conflict, using the below approach:

Listen. Share. Sort

I listen to you and understand your feelings and thoughts.

I share my feelings and thoughts

We sort this out together (finding a compromise) 

This is a method we will continue to try to model and use in class. It might also be something useful to use in school.

All Change

In today's (Wednesday) PSHE lesson we talked about the changes that children should expect as they start puberty and the proper names for male and female body parts. The children didn't seem to have many questions about what we covered but it may be the case that many of them would like to continue discussing puberty with you at home. In next week's PSHE lesson we will be discussing periods and wet dreams in more detail.