News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

A study published in the Dec. 6 edition of Nature revealed a connection between obesity and a genetic abnormality. According to the L.A. Times, the discovery spared one British couple the anguish of losing their children.

The youngsters severe obesity had been seen as a possible sign of abuse or neglect, and they had been put on the list of the country's social services department.

"They were being blamed for their childrens condition, receiving frequent visits from social services, frequent reviews, knowing people could have their children taken away," [researcher Dr. Sadaf] Farooqi said.

Both the study and the British couple's situation have raised questions about just how much parents can be held responsible for their children's weight problems. In June, a South Carolina mother was sentenced to 15 years in jail on felony charges of neglect. Her 14-year-old son weighs 555 pounds.

Labels: overweight, research, chilhood_obesity

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

Adolescence can be a time of considerable stress and conflicting emotions -- pressure that can lead to teen depression and thoughts of suicide.

According to a Dec. 19 examiner.com article by Lisa Rinaldi-Kohl, the key to helping teens is being aware of their moods and personality changes:

First, be aware of your family history. If depression or bipolar disorder run in your family gene pool, your child does have an increased chance of inheriting this depressive "gene." You wouldn't shun off a predisposition to diabetes would you? Illness is illness. Mental or physical. It deserves the same amount of respect in treatment. ...

So what can you do to help a teen who is depressed with suicidal thoughts? Get them to a doctor. Even if it's a primary care doctor, they can refer you to a mental health specialist. Starting a trail of treatment is very important. It will also give you a sense of "hope" knowing that you have done something productive in helping your child.

A lot of times substance abuse and alcohol also come in to play with a depressed teen. Alcohol or drugs are used to "self-medicate" the individual so that they feel less mental pain. When in actuality all it does is make the person more depressed. Alcohol is a depressant. It will not help, it will hinder.

Experiencing actual emotions, without them being masked by substance abuse, is totally necessary for treatment to be successful.

Labels: suicide, depressoin

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 1 Comment

Every year, The United Way of Comal County (Texas) creates a Community Needs Assessment. It analyzes the general welfare and wellbeing of county residents. Ahead of its planned assessment this year, the United Way asked teenagers for their input.

According to a Dec. 20 article by Dennis J. Weilbacher of The Herald-Zeitung newspaper, the teens' involvement put a spotlight on issues that affect young people within the community:

Texas State University Senior Lecturer Dr. Michal Lord was asked to facilitate discussions between students from New Braunfels and Comal Independent School Districts.

Two groups met  one from the Learning Center (School of Choice) from NBISD and one from Canyon Lake High School in CISD  to discuss what resources are lacking for adolescents in Comal County.

"Dr. Lord really listened to them, and facilitated rather than dominated the meeting," said Terry Robinson, executive director of the United Way of Comal County. ...

"The feedback was very positive," said Deb Mahone, director of special programs at Comal ISD.

"Their input will help (us in) what we think about what changes to make in our community," she said.

Labels: community, texas, communication

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

Young people look forward to the holiday school break almost as much as they look forward to summer. But some may have difficulty filling their time. Because boredom can lead to bad choices, parents should have some constructive options ready.

"Encourage your teens to meet the neighbors; wash cars, mow the lawn [for those in the South], shovel snow (for those Northerners), walk their dogs or even just spend some time with them. Maybe they need help wrapping gifts. It is a perfect time to reach out and give from your heart." [Source: Examiner.com]

You could also consider planning a family trip to the movie theatre, volunteering together, or learning to cook a new recipe. The key is to plan things the family can do together, and help your teenagers fill their time.

Labels: parenting tips, holidays

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

A controversial new tool allowing parents to monitor their children's text messages has been released in Australia. Called "Bully Stop," the technology is aimed at parents who are concerned for their childrens safety with regards to cyberbullying.

According to Adelaide Now, "the technology works by allowing parents to create an 'OK list' and a 'block list' of contacts, which is controlled by a computer program linked to the phone. All phone calls and text messages to and from blocked contacts will be rejected, but the software will log the blocked calls and messages, allowing parents to view the attempted communication."

While some are hailing the new tool as a potential improvement in child safety, others warn that it could create a rift between child and parent.

Labels: parental influence, text messaging

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

University of Minnesota researchers were surprised to find out that young people who engage in casual sex do not appear to suffer from low self-esteem or impaired emotional well-being.

• Prof. Marla Eisenberg and her colleagues at the University's School of Public Health interviewed more than 1,300 Minnesota between the ages of 18 and 24 years old.
  
• The study subjects represented a wide cross-section of people in that there were both full-time and part-time students in the group who were enrolled in colleges, community or technical schools, as well as others who were not attending any school.
  
• One in four said their most recent sexual experience was with a committed partner, 55 percent said it was within an exclusive dating relationship, 12 percent said it was with a close but not sexually exclusive partner, and 8 percent said it was just a casual acquaintance.
  
• Twice as many men as women said the relationship was casual.

"When we look at the emotional well-being across these groups, we really found no differences in things like body satisfaction, self-esteem and depressive symptoms," said Dr. Eisenberg. "We were surprised. The conventional wisdom is that casual sex, friends with benefits, and hooking up are hurtful. That is what we've been teaching kids for decades."

This study was sponsored by the Maternal Child Health Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services, and appears in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Labels: sex, emotional_growth, mental_health

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

A new study found that the risk of a child being seriously injured at overnight summer camp is relatively low compared to other popular sports and physical activities.

"The good news for parents is that our data show that serious injuries are uncommon and resident summer camps," said Dawn Comstock, a professor at the Center For Injury Research and Policy of Nationwide Children's Hospital and the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

• Comstock and her colleagues found that fewer than 3 percent of injured campers required hospital admission.
  
• The vast majority were able to remain at the summer camp or return to camp after they were treated offsite.
• The majority of injuries occurred during scheduled activities, not during unsupervised events.
  

About 11 million children attend residential summer camps every year.

Labels: safety, summer camps

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

A new study of European teenagers found they are less likely to spend time on the Internet than are their American counterparts.

• Europeans ages 12 to 17 years old actually spend more time watching television at an average of 10 hours a week than they do using the Internet for personal reasons at an average of nine hours a week.
  
• Only 41 percent of European teenagers visit social networks at least once weekly, telling researchers they prefer contact with friends in person.
  
• European teenagers love video games, but prefer console-based games to computer-based ones.
• Hardly any American or European teens read newspapers.

The study was conducted by the Forrester research company.

Labels: teens, internet, teen_culture, europe

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

A new drivers license is exciting for teenagers and often scary for theirparents. According to the Centers for Disease Control, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens.

According to an Aug. 20 article by Angela Ebron of womansday.com, choosing a car that's sized correctly can help keep teen drivers safer:

"Small cars dont provide the same crash protection," says Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "Have teens drive a midsize or larger." But not pickups or SUVs. "Theyre harder to handle and have more of a tendency to roll over."

Ebron also advised parents to let their teens drive the newest car that the family owns (as that one is most likely to have the latest and most effective safety components.

Labels: teens, driving, parenting tips

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

In an article that appeared in the Dec. 3 edition of The Oregonian, parenting writer Marjie Braun Knudsen advised fellow parents to use an easily remembered acronym to help teach their children how to behave -- and stay safe -- online:

As parents we talk a lot about cyber-safety. So many stories have surfaced about the serious consequences of bullying and harassment from social media. We worry about our kids and teens being bullied online. Where is the social media etiquette? ...

What it comes down to is teaching, and even more important, modeling, simple playground rules. Use the word WISDOM to help kids remember.

• When someone is hurt, help them.
• If in danger, get help.
• Safe sites only.
• Dont post without permission.
• Only friends, no strangers.
• Make amends

Labels: parenting tips, cyberbulling, online_safety

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

When Beth Harpazs son told her he was spending Black Friday at the mall, she launched into a lecture about materialism and the "consumer mentality." Harpaz, a writer with the Associated Press, reflected on her son's choice -- and her response -- in a Dec. 7 article:

How did my kid get caught up in this mentality? Sure, once in a while, we do a big shopping trip, but generally there is a reason -- a special occasion, start of school, kids outgrew something, clothes look worn or dated. I set a budget, use coupons and make both my teenage son and his younger brother earn and spend their own money on things I object to paying for.

Yet somehow I ended up with a mall rat on Black Friday.

Confused about whether my reaction was appropriate, I asked Jennifer Leigh, an adviser for mothers and teenage girls, for her thoughts. Leigh has a Web site, ParentingTeenGirls.com, and is the author of several books for parents and teenagers, including "True Listening" and "The Secrets Guys Wish You Knew About Love."

"You stated your piece, stated your mind, and then you let him go," she said. "I think that was a good approach. When parents try and force their own ideals down their children's throats, their children end up choking on their parents' dogma."

Labels: finance, parental influence, communication, money

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

A 14-year-old former gang member has some grown-up advice for parents who are worried about their children's futures: Spend more time with you kids.

The young man was the focus of a Nov. 19 profile by Navideh Forghani of NBC Augusta.com:

He joined a gang when he was only 12. Raised by a single parent, he says he felt like he didn't have a family. But it was his mother who stepped in and found a way to save her son. ...

As for this former gang member, he has one message for parents.

"Nowadays, in school with sports on the basketball team, most of them are gang members. Be more active with your kids. Keep them doing something spend time with you kids," said the former gang member. This former gang member wants to be a Christian Rap artist and write children's books hoping to keep kids off the streets.

Labels: gangs, parental-involvement

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

If a teen girl is overweight or obese at age 18, she is at double the risk for multiple sclerosis, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health.

"Our results suggest that weight during adolescence, rather than childhood or adulthood, is critical in determining the risk of MS," said author Dr. Kassandra Munger.

Dr. Munger and her colleagues used data on 238,371 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study.

This study appeared in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Labels: health, teens, overweight, girls, obesity

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

A "miracle drug" for acne may be taken off the market because it increases the risk for inflammatory bowel disease.

Shari Roane addressed the matter in a Nov. 6 Los Angeles Times article:

Swiss-based Roche Holding quietly pulled its blockbuster drug Accutane off the market in June amid early signs that the drug may be linked to inflammatory bowel disease. And last week, a study was released that quantified those risks, finding that users of the medication have almost twice the odds of developing a serious bowel disorder as nonusers.

For now, generic versions are still available, but the latest troubles could lead to the withdrawal of the controversial medication considered the treatment of last resort for acne so damaging it can lead to pitting of the face and a lifetime of anguish.

In its tumultuous 27-year history, the drug, also known as isotretinoin, has been found to cause serious birth defects if taken during pregnancy and to possibly increase the risk of depression, including suicidal behavior. Women who take it must register with the government, sign a consent form saying that they understand the medication's risks, use two forms of birth control, and submit to monthly pregnancy tests.

Labels: acne, drugs

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

For all the controversial press that's generated about today's tech-obsessed teens, researchers have found that technology may actually be strengthening relationships between parents and their children. Online gaming, iPods, and even interactive television shows like "American Idol" may be bridging the generation gap.

Boston Globe columnist Joanna Weiss addressed this issue in her Nov. 28 column:

[According to a Nickelodeon survey] 82 percent of families watch TV together every week and 41 percent listen to music together. Were nearing the official end of "turn that racket down."

Researchers say the new order stems partly from the economic crisis, which has turned more families into homebodies, and partly from increased comfort with technology. ...

And gadgets have a way of bringing people together, sometimes in deliciously nonlinear ways. Nickelodeons research vice president, Jane Gould, tells of one father who plays an online video game with his son: he logs on during lunch hour to try to beat his sons score from the night before. Then when his son gets home from school, he tries to beat his fathers score from lunchtime.

Labels: technology, communication, generations

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments