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News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

The By Parents For Parents Blog is regularly updated with the latest news and information on topics that relate to parenting teenagers. We'll post parenting advice and tips from trusted online news sources and expert parenting columns.

We invite you to add your comments. Please let us know if you would like some specific topics covered, want to share your experience as a parent dealing with teens, or just have general feedback on the By Parents For Parents Blog.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

What Do Teens Really Worry About?

Teenagers love to talk. They talk on the phone, online, at school, but often get quiet when parents are around. Consequently, parents feel they don't know or understand what's happening in their kids' lives. A quick chat with someone from a teen helpline revealed the 5 most common topics teens want to talk about.

"1) Relationships. Teens frequently want to talk to other teens about relationships with parents, siblings, friends and teachers. This is a broad topic I know, but interactions, building relationships and friendships are extremely important to teenagers."

The remaining top five topics were: abuse, sex, drugs and alcohol, and suicide. Source: BlogHer.com

If you feel your child is headed down the wrong path, correct their course sooner rather than later. Turn-About Ranch is a short term, high impact program for troubled teens that emphasizes old fashioned values like hard work and honesty.

Labels: commitment, relationships, worries

posted by ByParents-forParents at 7:06 PM 2 comments

Monday, December 17, 2007

Talking to Teens

Teenagers may act like it's "no big deal" that they don't have heart-to-heart conversations with their parents, but in the privacy of counseling sessions many admit that it bothers them. In fact, research has shown that a teen girl's self-esteem is closely tied to her relationship with her father.

"If you want to become closer to your teenager, here are some tips. First, remember that their bravado is just that. It is meant to protect a still fragile, developing person. Second, remember that their dress and language, which may be off putting to you, is part of this armor and helps to connect them with their peers. We all had our own version and most of it is harmless."

Also remember that teen boys are much more comfortable doing stuff than just sitting around and talking. So schedule time to play his favorite sport, or go for a drive. Teens love to talk, sometimes they just need a little help getting started.

Want to learn how to text message your teen? Check out an article, Text Your Teen 4 Better Communication, to learn about the do's and don'ts of texting.

Labels: commitment, relationships, self-esteem

posted by ByParents-forParents at 1:03 PM 0 comments

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Couples Who Are "Friends With Benefits" May Be Reluctant to Commit To Love

"Friends with benefits" is a term today's teenagers and college students use for couples who have sex but are not romantically in love.

A new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior indicates that such relationships are common. About 60% of 125 students surveyed at Michigan State University reported having had a "friend with benefits" relationship. Only one-tenth of these couples became full-scale romances. About a third stayed friends but stopped having sex, and a fourth broke off altogether. The rest remained "friends with benefits."

"We found that people got into these relationships because they didn't want commitment. It was perceived as a safe relationship, at least at first," Dr. Timothy Levine observed. "But there was this growing fear that the one person would become more attracted than the other." The couples usually never talked about one subject: their relationships.

On scales of intimacy, "friends with benefits" score low on passion and commitment.

An all girls boarding school, like Copper Canyon Academy, may offer girls the safe, structured environment needed to explore healthy relationships.

Labels: commitment, denial, relationships

posted by ByParents-forParents at 4:46 PM 0 comments

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