Most outrageous behavior during adolescence is normal. It’s temporary; it causes no harm to self or others. It doesn’t interfere with normal school or family functioning. Most adolescents muddle through this difficult search for independence and identity, but sometimes the passage of time isn’t enough. If your adolescent has any of the following behaviors, he’s […]
Behavioral
Underachievers perform below their potential at school. They don’t finish their school work and homework. If you help them with homework, they lose it or don’t it in. The main cause is your child’s reaction to pressure and interference around school work. Poor grades become a way of proving his independence. The harder you try,
By age 12, 3% of youngsters still wet the bed. Most of them have a small bladder, one that can’t hold all the urine produced at night. By this age, I have my patients go directly to a bed wetting alarm. Modern alarms are portable, lightweight and respond to a few drops of urine. If
Outside the home, you must count on consequences for doing the teaching. As your teenager experiments, she’ll learn to take responsibility for her decisions and actions. Speak up only if your adolescent is going to do something dangerous or illegal. Otherwise, let the school of hard knocks take over. If your teen has bad work
Teenagers need house rules; written ones will cut down on misunderstandings. Since you own the house and run the house, you make the rules. • First, you have to decide whether or not to loan out your car, bicycle, camera, radio, TV, clothes, and so on. If your teenager breaks something, she should repair it
Dressing, talking, and acting differently than adults helps your teenager feel independent. Most of these objectionable habits and preferences merely reflect conformity with your teen’s peer group. Try not to criticize him about these “no win” topics. Too much criticism can destroy your relationship. So “back off” as they say. • Don’t try to change
Some talking back is normal. We want our teenagers to express their anger through talking, and when a teen challenges our decisions and opinions in a logical way, we need to listen. Expect your teenager to present his case passionately, even unreasonably, but let the small stuff go; it’s only words. On the other hand,
The main work of adolescents in our culture is to become psychologically emancipated from the parents. The teenager must cast aside the dependent relationship of childhood and gain control of his life. This process is characterized by a certain amount of normal defiance and rudeness. Emotions run high and mood swings are common. The following
Many fat teenagers have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, in addition to emotional problems. Being a fat adolescent can have a devastating effect on self-esteem and self-confidence. If your teenager is on her way towards being fat, or is already fat, she needs help. She doesn’t need your criticism or ridicule, but rather your
Sometime around four to six weeks, your baby’s sleeping and eating will begin to settle towards a pattern. Once he sometimes sleeps for three or four hours at a stretch, you’ll want him to do that at night and save his dozing for the day. You can’t make him and you can’t hurry him, but
