Kyo

Courtesy of Operation Parent
–By Lora White

It’s a fact of life today that most teens will be on their own during the long days of summer. With parents working and extended families rarely living in the same town, it’s inconvenient if not impossible to have young people supervised when school is out. Fortunately, there are ways to make summer relaxed and productive for parents and teens alike. The keys are communication and planning.

Depending on your kid’s age and transportation needs, consider the following:

• Money-making opportunities. Kids of all ages can find odd jobs doing yard work, pet and/or vacation house sitting, […]
  

Courtesy of Your Life Counts

1. Ask 101 questions.
   For example, if a pal pressures you to smoke, ask her why she smokes, how long she has smoked, if she minds having ashtray breath.
2. Say “No” like you mean it.
   Make eye contact, then say “No” forcefully, with authority. The more certain you are in your refusal, the less people will bug you.
3. Back-up a no with a positive statement.
   For example, if you’re turning down an offer to smoke weed, say something like, “I like my brain the way it is, thanks.”
4. Be repetitive.
   Don’t hesitate to state your position over and over […]

Courtesy of APT Parenting

Peer pressure can be very trying for both, teens and their parents. It is difficult to deal with situations whereby you are forced to try something that you might not necessarily want to, fueled solely by the pressure of ‘fitting in’. This seems like a compulsion, because if you do not do what your peers demand of you, the fear of being alone is paramount. This is one of the main reasons for why people give in to peer pressure. If one observes the statistics of peer pressure, one will be convinced of this […]

Have you ever heard of your allostatic load? While this term may be unfamiliar to you, it is a critical factor to consider for managing stress. In this short interview, Victor Carrion, Ph.D., a childhood development and behavioral sciences expert, explains that it is not necessarily individual cases of stress that cause us harm, but rather the accumulation of various stressful experiences that are detrimental to our health and quality of life. Further, Carrion goes on to discuss how no matter what type of stress you are experiencing—whether cramming for an exam or about to get hit by a bus—the […]

Understand the magnetic pull of unhealthy relationships to help kids make better choices.

By Raychelle Cassada Lohmann, Contributor
Courtesy of US News

Friends play an important role in a teen’s life.

While not being socially connected can leave a teen more prone to isolation and depression, having good friends can boost self-esteem and improve communication skills; and some of those friendships can last a lifetime. On the flip side, having bad friends can lead to risky decision-making, bad behaviors and poor academic performance. So, basically, having no friends sucks and having bad friends can screw things up, but having good friends […]

Go to school, work, marry, have children. Why do we fail to convey this message to poor young people?

By Wendy Wang, Wall Street Journal
March 27, 2018
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sequence-is-the-secret-to-success-1522189894

‘You should wait until you are older to date.” Growing up in a working-class family in China, I learned this at an early age. Like many Asian parents, my mother stressed the importance of working hard and getting a good education before beginning a family.

Having a child outside marriage never crossed my mind. In the small city where I grew up, it isn’t done. Even today, less than 4% of births in China are […]