Search Results for: blog what do i say when people ask me about teenagers

What Teen Girls Experience Online

It is well known that adult women experience harassment online. It can be stressful, frustrating, and abusive. What many parents do not realize is that teenage girls are also experiencing online harassment. It might be a good idea to sit down and ask your teenager about what she has faced via social media. The Pew Research Center did a study called “Teens, Technology, and Romantic Relationships”. Both male and female teens were included in the study. The teens were between the ages of 13 and 17. All of them were American. Some of the study revealed data about how teens … Continue reading →

Gen X Parents Raising Connected Children

The world has changed, in so many ways, between when you were a child and today. Parents who are part of Generation X are the first to raise children (and teens) in a world where the internet is so prevalent. Times have changed, in so many ways! The Washington Post has an article titled “Parenting as a Gen Xer: We’re the first generation of parents in the age of iEverything”. It was written by Allison Slater Tate and posted on September 19, 2014. In it, she comments on the difficulties faced by parent who can’t understand why their kids won’t … Continue reading →

Having The Talk

Is there anything harder than having “the” talk with your kids? I remember thinking about this subject even when Hailey was a toddler and started to notice the difference between peoples bodies and wondered why girls had a bum in the front and back and boys only had one bum. I read every book I could find about taking to your child about their bodies and the bottom line was, keep it simple. Give them age appropriate answers, don’t pull out anatomy books for your four year old, only give them the answer they are looking for, don’t over think … Continue reading →

Special Needs Podcast Roundup – Week of January 30, 2012

It is time, once again, for the weekly Special Needs Podcast Roundup! This is where to find brand new episodes of podcasts that focus on topics that are relevant to parents of children who have special needs. You can learn a lot of helpful information from a podcast. ReThink Autism has a “Tip of the Week” video that was released on January 25, 2012. This one is called “Behavior Tracking made easy!”. The episode focuses on their new “Behavior Tracking feature”. It lets you target new behaviors, track functional assessment data, and evaluate treatment phase comparisons. NPR has an episode … Continue reading →

What fMRI Research Says About Teenage Brains

Teenagers are quick to press that they are young adults and should be treated as such. That has some validity with older kids, but younger teens are simply not young adults. When you’re in the midst of your eighth free-fall plunge in three weeks, this time because he didn’t get the part he wanted in the school play or she found out an unflattering picture was posted on someone’s Facebook page, I understand the draw, the temptation, for weary parents to want to see the adult light at the end of the teen tunnel prematurely. I understand you can be … Continue reading →

Mom Turns in Teen Children for Crimes Caught on Tape

Every June the city I live in, Milwaukee, hosts its annual 11 day music festival, “Summerfest.” It takes place along the lakefront at Maier Festival Park. With sometimes hundreds of thousands of people attending, there is always the chance of some kind of incident that involves the police. For the most part however, major problems are avoided. Well, that was until this past week. The big news story didn’t involve a bunch of drunken adults. No, it was about a group of 22 teenagers who looted a gas station and assaulted a number of victims. I should be fair and … Continue reading →

The Challenge of Change with Conduct Disorder

I work at a juvenile placement facility for adolescent boys. Today, while we were walking to school, one young man decided to turn around and punch the kid behind him in the face. Pretty much just because he was angry. As I was filling out the incidence report, I noticed that the teen had been diagnosed with Conduct Disorder. It made me laugh. Currently at my facility, we have over 250 residents, all teenage boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty. If you look closely, I would guarantee that all but ten have been diagnosed with Conduct Disorder. What … Continue reading →

Trying to Understand Teenagers

While the phrase “I will never understand women” is popular, as the parent of a teen I think that is less complicated than trying to understand teenagers. Their emotions can sometimes be all over the place. What was funny to them one day will suddenly cause them to break into tears the next day. One moment they are in this great mood and the next they are suddenly sullen. It can be hard to keep up with the ever-changing emotions at times. I think one of the most clueless people in my home is my husband. I don’t mean to … Continue reading →

Dating When Parenting a Teen

Dating is hard enough when it is a mature man and woman just trying to get to know each other. If that person happens to have a teenage child from another relationship then it is a million times harder. Teenagers today have so many things going on at school and with friends that the last thing they really want is to be introduced to a new person in their parent’s life. Let’s be realistic though, you are living also, and you cannot just wait for them to move out before you date. There are some things that you can do … Continue reading →

The Death of Childhood

I am outraged. No, it’s not the death of picture books this time but something even more serious -the death of childhood. Don’t know what I’m talking about? On Saturday I went to a conference for women in our area. One of the speakers was talking about the media’s influence on our children and the sexualization of girls. For a lot of us there I’m sure it was a real wake up call. I admit recently while looking for an outfit to buy for our young granddaughter I was horrified at the sayings on some of the t shirts and … Continue reading →