Ladies, do you remember your tween years? When you were blossoming into womanhood? Who was your greatest influence then? How did you relate with your mom? Did you openly talk to her? Did she give you advice on matters life? Do you wish she had?
Well, The Johari Centre will this month hold a special retreat for moms and their pre-teen daughters. I spoke to the organizer, Emily Jakalia about this event, and she gave more details.
MT: What is the relevance of the ages 10 – 12 years?
EJ: 10 – 12 years are the preteen ages. This is a time of change for these girls – physically, mentally and emotionally. They have alot going on for them as they transition from girl to young woman. What happens to a girl at this age, her experiences and the influences around her have a great bearing on the kind of woman she will be in her adulthood. The transition from girl to woman can be made easier if her mom is involved as her primary source of information.
MT: Why is this retreat important for a mother and her tween daughter?
EJ: There are very important issues that this girl faces, key among them sex matters. Research and statistics by Consumer Insight reveal that 4 in every 10 youth aged between 13 – 19 years had already engaged in sex. The internet, and especially social media has become almost like a religion for this age group, and many young girls are being misled on matters sex. Mothers therefore need to take back their positions and pass on the right information to their daughters. This retreat will be a good environment for moms and daughters to discuss some of these issues, explore channels of communication between them and help open up conversations that will hopefully lead the girl to making healthy choices as a teenager.
MT: What are some of the things they should look forward to during the retreat?
EJ: We will look at understanding ourselves – physically, mentally and emotionally. There will be lessons to be learnt; such as how the young girls can effectively manage the media and how to control all the messages being bombarded their way – what information they should keep and which should they filter out.
There will also be lots of fun activities that will serve as a good avenue to strengthening bonds between moms and their daughters. It will help moms and daughters continue to build their relationship – as the girl blossoms into womanhood. The good thing is that many girls at this age are still happy to spend time with their moms and are open to talking to them about different issues, sometimes even confiding in them. This retreat will be a good relaxing opportunity for mothers and their tween daughters to spend some time together, and it’s one of the best ways a mom can teach her daughter about life.
MT: Where will the venue be and what are the costs?
EJ: The venue will be at Oak Place (off Kiambu rd, along Ridgeways – Garden Estate)
Moms and daughters can choose one Saturday that suits them both.
The Saturdays are: 17 August, 24 August and 31 August 2013. Each day is limited to only 10 pairs of moms and their daughters.
The retreat costs Ksh 10,000 per pair. This caters for teas, lunch and learning materials. There is an offer for the first 3 registrations for each Saturday at Khs 9,000 per pair.
So there you go. If you have a pre-teen daughter, or if your sister, aunt, cousin, friend, neighbor or colleague does, share this information with them hopefully they can attend. It sounds interesting and I certainly would have attended if I had a pre-teen daughter. 
You can reach Emily on 0722 798 698 or info@joharicentre.com for more details. See Johari Centre on Facebook.
See flier below too.
10k is out of reach for most of us though we would like to attend.