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The good news about today's youth: 7 positive trends show them behaving more virtuously than earlier generations By Kristy Cooper Courtesy of Good News Network Have teens gotten a bad rap in recent years? They are typically characterized as self-involved, reckless, and only interested in “sharing” on their phones, but the youth of today, in reality, are actually behaving more virtuously than they have in a long time. Statistics tell an optimistic story. From smoking and drug use to unwanted pregnancies and abortions, the trends today show most teenagers making good choices. They are even volunteering in their communities more [...]

Four tips that will increase your child's happiness. By Marilyn Price-Mitchell Ph.D. Courtesy of Psychology Today Learning how to set and maintain emotional boundaries is an important part of growing up. It is also a key to developing relationships that are supportive, caring, and respectful. These kinds of positive relationships create the foundation for lifelong happiness. Unfortunately, many adults have difficulty setting their own emotional boundaries, let alone teaching their children. The reasons are simple. Setting boundaries is uncomfortable, forces us to speak for ourselves, and seldom results in a “thank you” from others. Yet, it is one of the [...]

Experts say kids are growing up with more anxiety and less self-esteem. By Rachel Ehmke Courtesy of Child Mind Many parents worry about how exposure to technology might affect toddlers developmentally. We know our preschoolers are picking up new social and cognitive skills at a stunning pace, and we don’t want hours spent glued to an iPad to impede that. But adolescence is an equally important period of rapid development, and too few of us are paying attention to how our teenagers’ use of technology—much more intense and intimate than a 3-year-old playing with dad’s iPhone—is affecting them. In fact, [...]

Teaching adolescents how to manage self-confidence is important to do By Carl E Pickhardt Ph.D. Courtesy of Psychology Today The two most common self-confidence drops I see during adolescence are at the beginning, in Early Adolescence (9-13) when separating from childhood, and at the end, in Trial Independence (18-23) when leaving home to operate more on one’s own terms. In both cases, the young person must get used to functioning on a significantly expanded playing field of life experience than she or he encountered before. At these first and last stages of adolescence, as the scope of life enlarges, the [...]

By Marilyn Price-Mitchell Ph.D. Courtesy of Psychology Today We understand the benefits of mentoring young people when we hear the powerful stories of teens whose lives have been changed by a single, caring adult. If you listen, those stories are everywhere. Like me, you likely have a story of a mentor from your own youth. What we know about mentoring is that it matters to positive youth development. Now, one of the largest mentoring studies ever conducted continues to support this thinking and links mentoring to a reduction in bullying. A five year study sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters [...]