News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Today, there are so many sensational stories about kids getting abducted or sexually solicited online that parents often refuse to let their kids out of their sight. As a result, parents may over-protect their kids, trying too hard to keep them out of harm's way.

"The problem with this everything-is-dangerous outlook is that over-protectiveness is a danger in and of itself. A child who thinks he can't do anything on his own eventually can't. What today's parents are teaching their kids is that they can't be independent..."

A child's self-esteem is tied closely to his ability to achieve things on his own. If he's never given the opportunity to exert his independence, he may not develop the self-confidence he'll need later in life. Source: Plastic.com.

Read "Narcissistic and Entitled to Everything! Does Gen Y Have Too Much Self-Esteem?"; if you like that article, you may want to sign up for the Parenting Tips Newsletter so you'll receive articles like that in your inbox twice a month.

Labels: narcissism, overproteced, entitlement

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 1 Comment

A psychology professor in Great Britain is refuting the claim that today's teens are more narcissistic than other generations.

Dr. Kali Trzesniewski, of the University of Western Ontario in London, studied questionnaires from more than 425,000 adolescents ages 17 to 24 from University of California studies dating from 1976 until the present.

Dr. Trzesniewski analyzed answers to questions such as "I am going to be a great person" and found no increase in narcissism since the 1970s. She also found slight decreases in socially undesirable traits such as superiority, and slight increases in positive traits such as self-sufficiency, but no major changes.

"Overall narcissism is not changing but there are some changes and they don't seem so bad," she said. "They just describe your basic CEO. It's not always a terrible thing."

Her study, published in the February issue of Psychological Science, contradicts that of Dr. Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled and More Miserable Than Ever Before.

High school boarding schools like the Academy at Swift River in New England offer teens a chance for true emotional growth in a safe, structured environment.

Labels: generations, narcissism, entitlement

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

There seems to be a growing sense of entitlement among children and teens. Often it's caused by parents who are spending long hours at the office, and feel guilty for spending less time with their kids. To make up for their absence, the parents let their kids have nearly anything they want from X-boxes to iPods and extra-late curfews.

"If this issue resonates with your family, refocus your efforts by promoting what is important in life: family and friends, the values of compassion and honesty, helping others (have your kids volunteer for the sick or needy), religious beliefs, working toward in important goal, etc."

Assign household chores to teach your kids responsibility. And when you do have time to spend with them, spend it talking rather than shopping for the latest MP3 player or video game. Play a round of putt-putt golf or go get ice cream. Kids crave parents time much more than their material gifts. Read more at PoconoRecord.com.

Many parents and psychologists wonder if unconditional love, constantly praising children, not criticizing them under any circumstances, and emphasizing feelings wasn't a big mistake. Read more in the article Narcissistic and Entitled to Everything! Does Gen Y Have Too Much Self-Esteem?

Labels: parenting_styles, entitlement, brats

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments