All Posts Tagged With: "teens"
Want to raise responsible children? Try giving them responsibilities
Our goal as parents is to raise children who grow into responsible adults capable of making smart decisions and accepting the consequences for their actions, right?
So isn’t it counterintuitive to attempt to control the lives of our kids, particularly once they become teenagers? I’m pretty sure you know what I’m talking about.
There are the [...]
13Apr2009 | | 3 comments | Continued
A lesson best learned young: Accept responsibility for your actions
There are an awful lot of lessons parents can teach their kids about the faltering economy. Here’s a simple one even a kindergartner can grasp: Accepting responsibility for your actions is good.
Take the case of Hank Greenberg, the former chief executive of American International Group who transformed the company into an insurance giant by casting [...]
6Apr2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
Author and teacher Laura Preble on teens and their reading habits
A lot is said these days about most teens not liking to read much in general and not liking to read the classics in particular. Raised in the age of iPods, texting and Twittering, this should come as no surprise.
I was fortunate recently to ask Laura Preble, a veteran high school English teacher and author, [...]
1Apr2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
Advice for parenting teens: Our kids are changing and so must we
What parent of a teen can’t use a little advice? Or maybe a lot of advice. Our kids are changing and we need to change, too.
A few months ago, I interviewed Laurie Wong about a class she teaches called “Active Parenting of Teens.” I was so taken by Laurie and her approach to raising teens [...]
28Mar2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
Teaching responsibility one forgotten lunch at a time
Sometimes learning to accept the consequences of your actions can be as simple as a forgotten lunch. Or two forgotten lunches.
In our house, our chidren make their own lunches for school. With baseball’s spring training under way, my son spends more time than usual in the morning with the sports section of the paper and [...]
10Mar2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
Helicopter parents hover too close at their own peril
The term “helicopter parent” hovers over all of us, a dark cloud reminding of what we don’t want to become.
We want to be an involved parent. But when does an involved parent become a helicopter parent who controls every aspect of their child’s life? How do we know if we’re crossing the line? And what can we do to prevent that?
My search for answers led me to Dr. Foster Cline, a psychiatrist and one of the two men who coined the phrase “helicopter parent” back in the mid-1970s in parenting workshops they were leading.
“Sometimes the line between healthy involvement
25Feb2009 | | 5 comments | Continued
Look who’s climbing into the driver’s seat!
(Quick Note: This column is also appearing on the Web site On Teens Today.)
Life changed around our house recently. As I write this post, my daughter is taking her first driving lesson with a man named Carl. And a few days ago, she brought home her first PSAT scores. Emma is 15 and the oldest of our two children. It’s been raining off and on since she left, and I’m more than a tad nervous. She’s assuming her rightful place in the driver’s seat and I need to be a passenger. Strike that. For now, I need to 25Feb2009 | | 0 comments | Continued
Active parenting course helps bring parents and teens closer
As I prepared to launch Such A Smart Mom, I talked to friends about what they’d like to see on the site. I heard a universal appeal from parents with teenagers that went something like this: “Please, help! I can’t talk to my teen!”
As the mom of two teenagers, I know all too well that my kids are learning to pull away, and I am learning to let them go. It’s part of a pre-ordained, unchoreographed dance that at times seems it can’t end soon enough.
6Jan2009 | | 1 comment | Continued
