Search Results for: blog when to seek help for your teen

When Should You Review Your Insurance Policies?

The insurance policy that you bought, several years ago, might not be adequate today. If your life has changed, then so have your insurance needs. State Farm has some advice about five critical times to review your insurance. Reviewing your insurance policies may sound boring and tedious. This is probably why many people avoid it. Keep in mind that if your life has changed then your current insurance policies might be inadequate. In some cases, reviewing your policies can reveal that you are paying for more coverage than you need. You might find a way to save some money. State … Continue reading →

Raising Teenagers

Raising teenagers, I don’t think there are scarier words in the world, when you are a single parent, that fear and stress is multiplied. First, because we all remember what we were like as teenagers and we know this is not going to be an easy ride. When Hailey was born one of the first things I did was apologize to my mother, I was a mean teenager who thought my mother knew nothing and I knew everything. I know that is pretty common but I was still devastated that I had behaved that way, especially once I held my … Continue reading →

When To Seek Help for Your Teen

It really comes down to a judgment call, but there are some specific situations that require immediate action when parenting a teenager: * Self-injury, such as cutting or burning * Tobacco/nicotine addiction * Shoplifting/stealing * Violence/aggression * Anxiety * Eating disorders * Alcohol abuse/dependency * Illicit/prescription drug use These are cause for a full-blown fire alert. You need to get help for your teen immediately, no matter how much resistance your encounter. Allow me to add a few more that have long-term consequences and need to be immediately addressed: Academic difficulties. Your teenager has another primary identity: student. It’s not … Continue reading →

What You Need to Know About Your Texting Teen

If your teenager cannot connect with you on a relationship level or if that relationship is too stressful, painful, or difficult, there are plenty of other places your teen can connect. Even if your relationship is merely strained and not broken altogether, your teen has plenty of options for connection, validation, acceptance, and support apart from you. You are in competition for your teen’s connection. You are competing with peers and with technology because many of those other options for connection are only a cell phone or keypad away. It used to be that you punished a child by sending … Continue reading →

Teenagers With Autism Rely on School Mental Health Services

A study finds that many teenagers who have autism use the mental health services at their school. This finding shows that schools really need to put effort into making sure that there is a mental health practitioner in the building. It also shows that there needs to be a system of follow up care that can be accessed after graduation. Schools provide many important services to students who have special needs. There should be teachers who have been specifically trained in Special Education. There should be a reasonable amount of teacher’s aids, who are there to work with students (and … Continue reading →

Keep A Close Eye On Your Teen’s Medications

Posted on by

If your child has ADHD, then it is a very good idea to keep a close watch over the prescription medication that your child is taking. It is not unheard of for teenagers and young adults to sell some of their medicine to their peers, or to give a few of their pills to a friend. How well do you trust your child? Parents of children who have ADHD usually realize that there is the potential that certain types of medications can be addictive. Parents who are especially concerned that their child will become addicted to his or her medication … Continue reading →

When Teens Don’t Share Everything

Some recent events that have unfolded in my home have opened my eyes to some truths that while they may not be easy to accept, they are part of raising teenagers. It is the belief that your teens will share everything going on in their world. I guess I really thought I had the market on this one but apparently not. One of the things that both my husband and I have strived to do in our home is to create a safe, secure refuge. That means our children can trust us, even when it means telling us the hard … Continue reading →

Getting to Know Your Teen Better

On Monday we celebrated Christmas with my sister’s family, my dad and stepmom. When we go to my dad’s house it always starts the same way. My children and their cousins disappear to the expansive basement to play hide and seek in the dark, while the adults sit in the living room and talk. The most my dad and stepmom get to hear about the kids is what we adults share. But they don’t get much of an opportunity to really get to know their grandkids. They aren’t the most talkative and most answers to their questions are pretty simple, … Continue reading →

Teens Need Mentors

Last week my 16-year-old son went through a one week military encampment. He went into it as a quiet, introverted teen and came out of it a more mature, confident young man. He was stretched beyond what he thought he could endure, he was taken out of his comfort zone and he was challenged to a great degree. When I heard the stories of what he went through, I was in awe. I honestly don’t think I could have done it. I would have either broken down, as some of the cadets did, or I would have gotten very defensive … Continue reading →

When Your Church Lets You Down (2)

In our last article on this subject (see link below) we looked at how Susan could not find a nun in her diocese to pray with her for a period of two weeks while another nun went on holidays. Susan was going through a deeply distressing time and she found the comfort of praying with her nun friend very comforting. But it wasn’t so comforting when not a single nun would volunteer to step in for the fortnight and help this distraught woman out. But this sadly is not restricted to the Roman Catholic Church. Lyn had just divorced her … Continue reading →