You drive them to school. You attend their sports games. You even have an occasional meal with them. Yet, you still feel like the relationship with your teenager is superficial at best. You want to be “the go to person” for your teenager, but are not sure how to “break into their world.” There may […]
Part of growing up is trying new things and at some point most teenagers experiment with alcohol. It is difficult to know at the outset which teens will only experiment versus those who will use alcohol casually and those who will develop serious alcohol abuse issues. Peer pressure becomes intense during the teenage years and […]
Like any parent, I used to lie awake at night, fearful of the day [in the not so distant future] when my daughter would be interested in learning about the birds and the bees. I envisioned a beautiful sunny day replete with a flowery meadow and picnic basket, perfectly suited atmosphere to explain the most […]
Let’s face it, the pre-teen and teen years have nothing on the “terrible two’s.” Somewhere between the hormones, braces, and growth spurts, my 11-year old’s casual jokes and sweet remarks had been replaced with sassy backtalk and defensiveness. With schoolwork, her attention-to-detail was exchanged for a “just get it done” approach. And housework? Well, let’s […]
Puberty follows a reasonably consistent sequence in girls. At a quick glance, this is what you can expect: first the development of the breast buds, which occur any time between the ages of 7 and 13, followed by the appearance of coarse, dark woollies under the arms and around the genitalia. About 15% of girls […]
Adolescence can be a very tough time for both the teen and the parent. I say ‘can be’ because not all teens talk back and slam their bedroom doors. If your teenager does not behave this way, feel fortunate that these ‘emotional thunderstorms’ don’t occur in your home. It may also be possible that your […]
The new buzzword in almost any community is Life Coaching. If you do not have a life coach, then there must be “something wrong”. But what is it about having a life coach that is creating such hype? I guess it would be the basic premise of psychodynamic psychology, namely, having an objective opinion guiding […]
