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 Parenting Related NewsThe Youth Online Behavior Study, a recent survey commissioned by McAfee, looked at how U.S. teens use the Internet and shared some insight into what our kids aren’t sharing with their parents. From May 4 to May 17, 2010 this study examined what kind of content and media teens were viewing and downloading, and how they were engaging in risky online behaviors.
We’ve all read about overscheduled children but what about overscheduled parents? What about overscheduled end-of-the-year activities. Why does everything your child does have to be celebrated in a way that requires parental attendance. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my children and would do anything for them. But enough is enough.
Get to know his new friends. Try to see in them what your son does. Maybe they are fiercely loyal. Perhaps they make him laugh. Try finding the good in them and suddenly Derek won’t have so much fun pushing your buttons where they are concerned. Besides, you might be surprised to find out that they are the most wholesome kids in school. Many times, kids try on different “uniforms” as they mature, and those looks can belie what’s really on the inside.
Being a responsive parent instead of a reactive parent begins with more matter-of-fact interactions with our kids. This means speaking to them in a calm manner and not freaking out, overreacting and getting extreme with our emotions. Too often, when we see something in our relationship that we don’t like, we try to change everything wholesale. We say things like, “From now on, things are going to be different!”
Eminem and his new album offer an opportunity for us parents to connect with our kids. We can use Eminem’s songs and his personal recovery from prescription medicine addiction to talk to our teens about prescription drug abuse .
While it was hard to immediately see the outward effects of my pill intake, inside, I was detaching from reality. I always describe the feeling of being on pills as being inside a protective bubble. You feel like nothing can hurt you…and eventually, nothing can, simply because you’ve got no emotions left.
Emergency room visits for underage alcohol use may nearly double during the Fourth of July weekend according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, a public health surveillance system that monitors drug-related hospital emergency visits.
Survey data released today by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America® and MetLife Foundation found that teenage girls are more likely than teenage boys to perceive potential benefits from drug use and drinking, making teen girls more vulnerable to drug and alcohol abuse.
I may have wanted my sons to be great skiers, or get into an Ivy League college, but now I want them to fulfill their own passions and find the same joy in what they do that I’ve been blessed to find in my writing. I urge you to do the same! That’s my Father’s Day reminder to myself, and my wish for all dads everywhere.
Let’s face it. Teens are not that interested in talking to someone whose sole intent is to pepper them with questions, judge their answers, and offer unsolicited advice. In fact, these forms of communication serve to obstruct rather than facilitate communication with our teens. As a matter of fact, they are part of a longer list of communication blocks that parents would do well to avoid if they’d want their teens to talk to them.
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