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Fear of SIDS. Autism. Learning disabilities. Anxiety is a constant throughout every phase of parenting. Worries about sickness and freak accidents dominate parents’ lives when their kiddies are tiny. But come the teen years, your child’s behavior can and will introduce a whole new set of nail biters. Vicki Iovine, author of the Girlfriends’ Guides series, weighs in on what causes her the most angst in her upcoming book Girlfriends’ Guide To Teenagers:
When asked whether they would give credit cards to their teen children, a whopping 71% of parents polled by ABC firmly clenched their wallets tightly and voted, “Hell no!” Fears of rampant American Apparel and Urban Outfitter shopping sprees likely fueled that response, but is it necessarily the right one?
Society is finally at a point where we cringe when a teenager beside you in line at the grocery store declares something is “so gay” or “so retarded.”
But that hasn’t stopped it from happening all too frequently. And as a recent Double X post regarding an article that described Barack Obama’s action in Afghanistan as a “a case study in presidential schizophrenia” points out it may be time we start expanding the list of taboo words for teenage insults. Continue reading »
The parents of Hamilton County, IN want to reduce teen traffic accidents in a big way, and have come up with safe driving initiatives called Now Think Now and Buckle Down.
Think your kids are stressed? According to the American Psychological Association, you don’t know the half of it. The APA just released their Stress in America survey and for the first time ever, they included young people in the study. Not only did they discover that kids are more stressed than you might think, they also found that parents are often clueless about what their kids are worrying about.
More than 1,200 kids aged 8 to 17 were polled about issues relating to stress and, not surprisingly, 44% said that they worry about doing well in school. What is surprising, however, is that 30% of those surveyed admit to worrying about money. No, not their allowances. Kids are worried about the family finances.
In this economy, with so many parents worrying about money, it shouldn’t surprise us that our kids are picking up on it. But when asked what they thought their kids were worried about, the parents in the survey pointed to extracurricular activities. In reality, only about 10% of the kids surveyed said non-school activities were a source of stress.
Also interesting was what the survey revealed kids were not worrying about. Despite the fact that many parents assumed their children worry about family relationships, only 8% of kids agreed that their parents were a source of stress.
The upshot, says Stanley Greenspan, a clinical professor at George Washington University, is that parents need to tune in to what their kids are really feeling. Thinking that you are shielding them by not discussing financial worries is a mistake. They know what’s going on and they are worried.
Image: sxc.hu
“So if Heather told you to jump in the lake, would you?
Are you really sure you know how you’d like your teen to answer that question? You may want to think again.
Here’s another one to throw in the “why you should never piss off your kids” file. At least, you might not want to piss them off if you know they have access to nude pictures of you.
Wait a minute, you might just want to make sure your kids never have access to nude pictures of you . . . Continue reading »
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