Search Results for: blog are teens overindulged

Teaching Teens About Friendships

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about teenage cliques and how painful they can be. That blog was spurred by my daughter not getting invited to a birthday party. At the time I encouraged her to ask her friend about it. I really didn’t want her to assume the worst but she did. Just a couple of days ago she announced that she was no longer mad at her friend. As it turned out, she had the invitation but kept forgetting to give it to my daughter. In her world everything was fine again. It bothered me, however. One … Continue reading →

Grandparents Forget What It’s Like to Raise Teens

I know my mother means well but I think she has forgotten what it was like to raise a teenager. Recently I was talking to my mom about how I finally started letting my 11 and 13-year-old ride their bikes with friends to the park. She clearly disagreed with my decision to do this. I will admit that I have been a very protective parent. It has only been this past year that I have started to loosen the reins a bit and understand that I can’t put my children in a bubble. There are still some things I won’t … Continue reading →

Are Teens Overindulged?

Yesterday my daughter enjoyed a rare opportunity. She was picked up afterschool in a limo, got to drive around in it for an hour and a half and was then dropped off at home. She got to show off in front of her school and in our neighborhood. No, I wasn’t the one who arranged for her to ride in a limo. It was another parent who did it for her son and eight of his school friends which included my daughter. One might think a limo ride would be a graduation gift. But they are only in 7th grade; … Continue reading →

Our 2nd Annual “I Will Not Be Selfish” Event

This weekend my family participated in our second annual “I will not be selfish” event. Okay, it’s really called “Adopt-a-Family” but my family has inherited its own title. Last December was the first time we participated. It involved going to a place in a part of our city we wouldn’t normally be in. It involved spending a portion of our day serving others. It involved giving…in other words, being selfless. When our children first learned of this event last year, they were horrified. In fact, two of my children had especially bad attitudes about it. One declared that the scowl … Continue reading →

Kids Getting Botox

Very disturbing…images of an 8-year-old girl on “Good Morning America” receiving Botox. And guess who was injecting it into her? Her own mother. During the interview the little girl said they hurt but she gets used to them and when the interviewer asked why she receives them, she tilted her head to the side and said, “I don’t know.” But then her mother whispers something to her and she says, “Oh yeah…” as if to be reminded of why she receives them. That image continues to flash through my mind and it is very unsettling. I thought it was bad … Continue reading →

Rich Kids

I’ve known many a child who has rolled up on the last day of school in a limousine. No, we don’t live in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, or in the swanky northern suburbs of Chicago. We actually reside in a semi-rural area of the Upper Midwest, yet seeing kids ride to school in limos on special occasions is not an unusual sight. Kids here might not have embraced the whole Silly Bandz trend, but the joy of cruising to class in a pimped out ride is not lost on country mice. Though, riding to summer camp in a helicopter, may be … Continue reading →

Teenage Cliques

Old memories are being brought back, those of teenage cliques. Oh how I painfully remember those times. Cliques can be very heartbreaking. The memories were spurred by a conversation my daughter had with me. I find it interesting how she didn’t just tell me the situation. She wanted to first know how I felt about it. She asked me, “How would you feel if a very good friend of yours that you always invite to your birthday parties didn’t invite you to their birthday party? And then on top of it, she invited your best friend. How would you feel?” … Continue reading →

Halloween, the Economy and Your Family

Oprah Winfrey just devoted an entire show to the best money lessons you can teach your kids in these troubling economic times. The show featured tips on how to tell overindulged children that the spending needs to stop—-NOW. Financial guru Suze “tell-it-like-it-is” Orman was back scolding Oprah’s chosen families about how their reckless spending helped drive our economy straight into the dumpster. Though, as I watched the program I wondered how much of Orman’s advice was falling on deaf ears. After all, while Orman was chastising parents for overindulging their kids, the National Retail Federation was releasing information they gathered … Continue reading →