A course for parents that throws light on why many teenagers change behaviour will begin next week at a community wellbeing garden in Farnham.

Talking Teens will begin next Thursday (February 26) at Space2Grow with sessions taking place from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on the same day for five consecutive weeks.

Participants will gain some understanding on why teenagers often challenge their parents and carers, and get help on how to communicate, set boundaries and solve problems.

“There is a stigma about parenting courses – people think there must be something terribly broken if you go on one,” said Space2Grow project manager Kate Newton, who is co-leading the course with Kelly Taylor.

“We are trying to break down that idea as we could all benefit from them.

“The best courses are when we have a real mix of people from all sorts of backgrounds. A lot of the support on the course comes from others in the room.

“When someone says ‘my child does x’ and the next person says ‘so does mine’, the relief they feel is palpable.

“We had a grandfather who was looking after his grandchild. He said: ‘I’ve parented already and doing it again at my age is very lonely. I’m done.’

“But a woman said ‘My gran raised me and I was awful to her. Please don’t give up,’ and that rejuvenated him. The communication between teenagers and parents also improves hugely because of the course.”

The Farnham Town Council-funded course is free apart from a minimum £15 donation for the associated textbook. However, there are non-monetary ways of paying this, for example by helping in the garden.

To find out more about Talking Teens and what else happens in the garden, visit www.space2grow.space and click on ‘what we do’.