Parents were encouraged to talk to their children during their teenage years.
Victor Ramirez, who is the school psychologist for Ripon Unified, shared his experience of the recent Parents Institute at Monday’s school board meeting.
The district-wide event was held Feb. 6 at Park View Elementary School.
Paty Mendoza, coordinator for English Learner Services, helped spearhead Parents Institute featuring several presenters.
Ripon Elementary School eighth-grade teacher Aline White, for example, talked about social media and its dangers.
She pointed out how students are on their cell phones, at times, tuning out their folks. “There are 99 acronyms when it comes to texting,” said White.
In reference to parents, she noted that they should be aware of the ‘PA’ text, which means “parent alert” and ‘IDC’ – “I don’t care.”
Weston Elementary School teachers Michelle Thompson and Kathy Diederich covered Common Core standards while Mendoza touched briefly on “Literacy at the Home.”
The subject matter was closely related to Ramirez’s topic “Getting through the Teenage Years,” detailing that brain of a young teenager is still in the developmental stages.
He said that male’s brain doesn’t become fully developed until his late 20s while the female brain occurs in her early 20s.
Ramirez’s “Getting through the Teenage Years” scored high with those at the Parents Institute based on the survey.
“We still need to maintain and keep (your children) in a conversation,” he said.
Ramirez urged parents to continue setting good examples at home.

To contact reporter Vince Rembulat, e-mail vrembulat@mantecabulletin.com.