Search Results for: blog parent role reversal

Why You May Pay Dearly For Being a “Cool” Parent

Prom season is in full swing and graduation festivities are not far behind.  If all the pomp and circumstance has prompted you to honor your kid’s wish to turn your home into party central, you might want to consider what it’ll cost you. Forget about the bill for the food, beverages and decorations; rather, focus on how you may pay dearly if you aren’t familiar with social host ordinances. A “social host” is anyone who knowingly allows underage drinking to take place on property that he or she owns, leases or otherwise controls.  This is not to be confused with … Continue reading →

Good Parent Patrol

Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites have changed the way the world communicates. Technology has also made it much easier to blow the whistle on bad parents. Just ask local law enforcement officers, who respond to dozens of calls per day from concerned strangers, who witness alleged acts of parental neglect and child abuse. Acts of bad parenting are well documented, and these days it typically takes a story like this to raise eyebrows. This sad fact disturbed folks in Kalamazoo, Michigan so much that they decided to take matters into their own hands. Kalamazoo County Child Abuse and … Continue reading →

Parents in the News: They Did What?

Feeling guilty about the 10-minute ear-piercing tirade you treated your rule-breaking teen to this morning? Don’t. After reading what the following father exposed his child to, your long-winded diatribe may seem like a gift to your kid in comparison: DIET FROM HELL Who knew Satan’s real name was Bob? According to police in Las Vegas, Robert “Bob” Blue, has got a lot to learn in the parenting department. The Sin City father allegedly chained his 15-year-old daughter to her bed because he felt she was overweight. Police say Blue used shackles to keep his child out of the kitchen and … Continue reading →

Parental Threat: Intention Good, Results Not So Much

We’ve all been there in one way or another. As kids we were on the receiving end of it, and as parents with unruly children, who are prone to throw punches and barbs at each other in the backseat of a moving vehicle, many of us have doled out the empty threat ourselves: “If you kids don’t stop fighting, I’m going to stop this car right now and you can walk home!” Only, for an affluent New York mother the threat was far from empty. According to reports, Madlyn Primoff, who just happens to be a partner in a Manhattan … Continue reading →

Be Glad You Aren’t These Parents

What would you do if you learned that your 11-year-old son had been suspended from school? Would you: A. Ground him for life B. Ship him off to military school C. Punch his principal for what you consider to be an unfair punishment If you answered “C,” then you might want to reconsider after hearing what happened to a Rhode Island mom after she went the same route. According to reports, 30-year-old Aleyda Uceta allegedly punched and bit her son’s school principal after she was told the boy was being suspended. No kidding. Police say Uceta attacked the principal of … Continue reading →

Parent Role Reversal

Reading about a parent punishing a child for doing drugs is nothing out of the ordinary, but when a teen calls the cops on her own mother for smoking pot, it makes front-page news. At least it did in Waverly, Nebraska. That’s where a 15-year-old girl turned in her mom for allegedly smoking marijuana in front of her. According to police reports, the high school freshman called the sheriff’s office after she got fed up with her mom’s pot habit. Authorities executed a search warrant of the girl’s home last week and took the teen’s mom into custody. The 32-year-old … Continue reading →

Relationship between Patient and Caregiver Makes a Difference

A study from Utah State University took a look at the relationship between Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers — and how that relationship can impact the patient’s mental and physical decline. Since 1994, researchers from Utah State University have been following more than five thousand people in order to look at risk factors for dementia. All participants were age 65 or older at the start of the study. Out of the initial five thousand, close to two hundred developed dementia and were being cared for by a spouse or (adult) child. Researchers interviewed the caregivers about their relationship with the patient … Continue reading →

Reunited and It Feels So Good

In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I would share the moving story (in more ways than one) of a 13-year-old boy who desperately wanted to see his mother. When you’re done reading, consider what lengths your child would take to spend time with you, and whether the teen’s efforts are not the sign of a larger problem. Kenton Weaver missed his mom. A lot. So much, in fact, that he didn’t let his age, or the fact that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, stop him from formulating a plan to be reunited with the woman who gave him life. A … Continue reading →

Do You Curse in Front of Your Kids?

How many times have you dropped the F-bomb in front of your children? Do you use the word S*%^ as an adjective? Think about it. I’m not referring to the time when you stepped on a handful of LEGOs with bare feet or took a header into the pavement when you were teaching your 5-year-old to ride without training wheels. I’m talking about regular use of curse words as part of your daily vocabulary. If you routinely use expletives in front of your kids without realizing it, then you might take note of a dad in Philly. A father in … Continue reading →

Are We a “Functional” Family?

When I was growing up, the big talk in the pop psychology world was all about “dysfunctional” families. Everyone I know who is close to my age and even older is convinced that they came from a dysfunctional family. I don’t know why, but over the years my ideas around what is truly dysfunctional have been modified. As a single parent family, I think that many of worry that our single parent status will be the catalyst that sends our family into dysfunction—but are we REALLY a dysfunctional family? What does it take to be a functional one? In my … Continue reading →