North Okanagan Community Project: FAQ’s
What is the Over 2 U Project?
Part of becoming an adult is learning to do daily tasks and take care of others. The process involves parents and other adults shifting the responsibility for tasks to teenagers. This shift is what we call governance transfer. But responsibilities also involve risks. In order to understand governance transfer, we want to know what adults in the North Okanagan community think about the potential for teenagers to hurt themselves or others as they take on certain responsibilities.
Why is this research important?
Some parents shift responsibility easily to youth who learn to act responsibly on their own. Other youth want to take on the privileges of adulthood without taking on the responsibilities. In some families, parents want to hover over their teenagers because they are concerned about their children’s success and well-being. In other families there are arguments between parents and adolescents about who is responsible for daily tasks.
What do the parenting experts say parents, families and communities should do? It generally says that adults should strike a balance between giving teenagers opportunities to act on their own and controlling their behaviour. This might sound good but the idea of striking a balance is not followed up by any concrete advice. As well, this ‘strike a balance’ approach doesn’t take into account that teenagers can be very different in terms of their personality and their ability to take on responsibilities.
To correct the lack of clear guidance for parents and communities, the Over 2 U Research Team is working to identify useful information about the process of transferring governance from parents to teenagers. The Over 2 U Research Team, in collaboration with the North Okanagan community, is answering the question, “What signals to parents and adolescents that governance transfer should begin, how well it is going, and when it is complete?”
How does the North Okanagan Community benefit?
The more people who participate in the project the more likely the research findings will be relevant and used in the community to support individuals and families.
The Over 2 U Research Team has partnered with the Social Planning Council of the North Okanagan and School District 22.
The project has two streams:
- School District 22 survey research with students and families
- Community research, including program development and learning opportunities
The Community research involves students and adults. Check out the opportunities to be involved!
