ANDERSON -- The Madison County Juvenile Probation Center says right now there are currently more than 320 teens involved its system right now.
The department is hoping a class geared toward helping parents and teens will help reduce that number.
“Today it’s too easy for kids to get ahold of somebody’s gun or buy their own and that’s how they are handling it,” Steve McPherson said.
McPherson was one of many parents who attended “Parenting the Teen Brain.” 4 years ago, Madison County Juvenile Probation Department partnered with Anderson Universityto host classes to help better connect teens and their parents.
“My grandson made some poor choices and ran with the wrong friends and ended up in juvenile,” McPherson said.
The class typically meets 2 to 3 times a year and focuses on skills such as conflict resolution for teens, many of whom have faced trauma, and for parents who want better understand what their teen is going through. The class is free for anyone who wishes to attend and it’s a two-day class.
“My youngest Scottie had probation issues, so I came to learn different parenting styles,” Carrie Martin said. Martin said her youngest son is a foster child and she wanted to learn better ways to understand what he is going through and how to better communicate with him.
“Trauma kids they are too scared to express their feelings so they have a fearful mode that turns into lying,” Martin said.
The department says they are hoping this class will work as a solution for both parents and teens.
“I have learned the pause, I used it all day The pause does work, its just taking that time and reading body language,” Parent T’Shayla Jones said.
Madison County Juvenile Probation Center says its hopping to host its next class in October. More information can be found here.
