Interactive Workshop Events For Families
Are You REALLY Listening? for Families
Something quietly shifts when young people and the adults in their lives are in the same room, simply as people with something to say to each other.
It brings together young people and parents, for two hours of connection. No lectures. No blame. Just the rare experience of being in a room where every voice carries equal weight. Creates conversations to bring generations together to explore what really matters, not to be taught, but to be heard.
Some of the most important conversations between young people and the adults who love them never quite happen. Not because nobody wants them to. Because life is loud, schedules are full, and the kind of quiet, intentional time it takes to really hear each other keeps getting pushed to later.
This is that time. Finally made.
WHY THIS MATTERS
We live in a world of constant distraction.
We live in a world of constant distraction; screens, schedules, and competing demands mean our attention is divided almost all the time. Most of us are not failing at connection, we are overwhelmed by it. But we CAN get better at balance.
And yet the gap keeps growing.
AYRL exists because that silence has a cost.
And because two hours in the right room CAN change things.
WHY CHOOSE ARE YOU REALLY LISTENING?
Are You REALLY Listening? exists to give people permission to step back, look up, and reconnect with what actually matters. Not through lectures or programmes, but by coming together, parents, young people, different generations, and simply being in the same room. Because connection isn't built through advice, it's built through curiosity. And curiosity, when it's shared in the right room, changes things.
Because two hours together IS a village. Showing up IS an act of connection. Listening to a perspective different from your own, without judgement, is how communities move forward.
We give people the tools to communicate and listen better, not just in our events, but in their everyday lives. And we measure it. We come back. We practise together. Because none of us has this figured out, there is NO blame, and it's okay to admit we're ALL facing the same challenge.
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. And that's exactly the point.
And running through all of it is one central question: are you REALLY listening?
You leave with practical tools, a shared language, and a clearer sense of how to stay connected when life inevitably speeds up again.
HERE ARE DIFFERENT WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
HOST A PILOT EVENT
We have created two events especially for parents and young people to explore important topics:
I Know How To Be Safe Online - exploring personal online safter, access and consent.
Your Grades Don’t Define You - discovering how the learning process and failure continues to benefit even when the final marks are awarded.
CREATE IT TOGETHER
You can choose the speaker topic or we can suggest an appropriate fit.
If it matters to your community, we can build an event around it.
We can activate an event using our diverse and growing network of speakers across:
— Empathy & emotional intelligence — AI & digital culture — Digital balance & online wellbeing — Racism & cultural identity — Neurodiversity — Gender & identity
— Intergenerational communication — Body image — Mental health — Addiction — Safeguarding
WHICH IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
AYRL is modular and fully adaptable. Created for your audience.
Not sure which fits?
Get in touch and we'll work it out together
WHAT THEY'RE REALLY THINKING
These are real words from real people at our launch event.
Shared anonymously. In the same room. For the first time.
This is what happens when people finally feel safe enough to speak.
AYRL creates that safety.
From the parents:
"Being a parent, being an adult is really hard."
"I'm scared something is going to happen to you."
"I also don't know what to do sometimes."
“I worry about you because you’re lonely.”
"It reminds me as a child when I wasn't listened to."
“You take everything personally.”
“I can’t support you well enough on my own.”
“You’re all I have.”
“You’ve been through a lot this year.”
“I love you more than anything else.”
“I sometimes feel like I lose you to the online world.”
“I don’t understand your world.”
“One day I won’t be next to you.”
“I bake when I’m sad or overwhelmed by something.”
“That I need validation and praise too.”
"You're losing or not using your creativity enough to get to know yourself."
“How little love I had as a child.”
“I also have needs.”
From the young people:
"I get overwhelmed when they pressure me to be the perfect example."
"I think my family thinks, I don't work hard enough."
“You work too much.”
“Cos I do care about you!”
“You don’t have to do it alone.”
“You can just listen.”
“Sometimes I just need space.”
“Support me to feel like i’m enough.”
“Freedom.”
“I am actually sensitive.”
“I am more vulnerable than it seems.”
“I’m not as confident as I appear.”
“I need you to listen to me more and try to understand me.”
“I find it hard to ask for help.”
“I’m actually pretty self conscious
Why We Think This Matters
Are You REALLY Listening?
Your Grades Don't Define You
Our latest edition of Are You REALLY Listening? brings parents and their children aged 9–14 together to consider how our brains work, how the best learning comes through challenge and difficulty and why our grades never tell the whole story.
Academic pressure on young people is real and it can be hard to navigate at times. This event creates a rare intentional space away from distractions where parents and children can listen to each other differently, and leave feeling closer and more understood.
As with all AYRL events, it is fully interactive. Expect real stories, movement, activities, snacks, take-home gifts, tools to aid better communication in everyday life, and conversations that continue long after the event ends.
Follow us on Instagram: @really_listening
