Busy, overloaded days often make us unaware that family communication is suffering. Congratulations to those parents who take notice and want to improve the situation. However maybe it is more the âwhatâ than the âhowâ thatâs the problem. For example, if you ask parents to list what they talk with their school aged children or […]
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Does your teenage son want a summer job? Are you wondering how to convince him that he needs to start doing something about it right now? Teens looking for summer work should start serious job hunting tactics no later than March 1. If he doesnât believe you, there are some good resource books in your
Spanking teaches the use of fear and power over someone more vulnerable than yourself. Is this what you really want your child to learn and to practice when she is an adult? You say “it seems to work”. Well, I believe what’s happening is that she is simply repressing her anger at being spanked. She
This is the season for graduation parties, and we all know that some teen graduates will drink, drive, and die during these celebrations. Sometimes parents just assume that their teens know how they feel about drinking and driving, or about saying no to alcohol. However, many studies of teens prove that if kids do not
I believe in being the wall against which kids must push up against and that parenting is not a popularity contest. I think it’s usually safe to talk to one’s feelings ( i.e., “I need to talk about our confrontation. It really scared me. It must not happen again because that behavior is just not
Inhalants are a group of volatile (breathable) substances abused by sniffing/inhaling. These are legal substances, most of which are found in everyday household products; not normally thought of as drugs, they have drug-like effects on users. Regulation for misuse is difficult, and the best prevention is educating children about the lethal effects of misuse. Inhalants
Q — After eight years of living with his mother, my 16-year- old son has decided to move in with me. Sharing my apartment with him and his belongings is a shock! I feel guilty about resenting him for intruding. He’s my son and I love him. But our fairly close relationship is being jeopardized
It is normal for a male to experience pain with an erection. Often this pain is related to having an erection that is prolonged in time. That is an erection that might last 20 or 30 minutes can be painful. The reason for this is that an erection is the pooling of blood or accumulation
Many parents are concerned about driving safety and their children. This concern arises not only for teens but for others who encounter the new drivers on the road. Statistics prove that new, inexperienced drivers are at the highest risk for accidents, which is why insurance rates for 16- to 20-year-olds are so high. The time
A letter I received from a mother in Pennsylvania told the tale of her 15-year-old daughter who, she explained punctuates all her conversations with finger pokes and punches, and she leans into the mother or pulls on me whenever she wants to say something. Most of the time the daughter tries to pass this off
Late bloomers are kids who learn and grow in a normal fashion, but take their time doing it. For example, while most kids learn how to read by the age of six or seven, the late bloomer may not actually read until about eight or nine or even later. It’s possible to late bloom in
Research suggests that what we expect from our children we get. Hence, to expect failure from a child is to breed failure. To expect success is to court success. However, it’s also important to realize that parents should also avoid placing unrealistic expectations on their children. One parent who has a musical child expects their
Tests, unfortunately, are becoming more and more common in our schools, creating test anxiety and learning blocks in our kids that get in the way of school success. However, you can help your child cope with the negative effects of testing by providing them with the necessary skills for coping with these stresses. Here are
Many kids have trouble learning, because they’re feeling too stressed out or anxious to concentrate. Here are some activities that you can do with your child at home to help him feel more relaxed before beginning any learning task. ⢠Have him sit quietly in a chair and take three deep breaths; then ask him
Here are some ideas for helping your physically active youngster learn to spell more accurately. ⢠First, have him spell words out loud, while jumping up every time a vowel is spoken. For example, to spell the word rocket, he’d sit on the “r,” jump up on the “o,” sit on the “c” and “k,”
Many parents complain that they can’t help their kids with homework without it becoming a disaster for all concerned. Yet homework can actually be one of the best times to cement a positive learning bond between you and your child. Here are some suggestions for making homework a mutually satisfying experience. • First, let your
A growing number of parents around the country are taking their children out of both public and private schools and teaching them at home. There are several advantages to such an action. • First, children have the opportunity to learn at their own pace without feeling pressure to keep in step with the school’s timetables.
You may have a child with tremendous learning problems, who might function brilliantly, if he were only living in another culture. The reason for this seeming paradox is that different cultures place different priorities on specific learning abilities. In our culture, the ability to read, write, spell and do math is very important. However, in
Recent years have seen a massive increase in the amount of knowledge we possess about the human brain and learning. We now know that the gray matter making up the most visible portions of the brain controls many of the thinking processes used in school activities. However, several smaller structures found at a deeper level
Musical children learn best through rhythm and melody. These kids respond naturally to music at home and at school. They may be excellent singers or play a musical instrument competently. They usually know many tunes from memory and can be heard whistling or humming them as they carry on with their daily routine. They are
