Parenting Teens

Examinations and school tests cause a certain amount of stress for teens. This is normal and often the type of stress that is needed to push your teen to do his/her best. But too much stress will have the opposite effect and can hinder your teen's grades. Here are ways that you can help your teen tone down test stress at home... read more Ways to Help Your Teen Tone Down Test Stress.

A new study presented at an international conference in Texas demonstrates the long-term effectiveness of a classroom-based prevention program targeting teen drug use. The study tracked teens who participated in the Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST) program as 7th graders(about 13-years-old) and found that their participation in the program produced long-lasting reduction in drug use 12 years later.

The study assessed LST's impact on young adults in their early to mid-20s who received the program when they were in the 7th grade. The results of the study found that participants were 23% less likely to have ever used illicit drugs than were individuals who did not receive the LST program. They were also 22% less likely to have used marijuana and 26% less likely to have engaged in non-medical pill use(prescription drug use) (such as amphetamines, barbiturates, and tranquilizers). Over 2,000 individuals participated in the follow up study; their average age at the 12-year follow-up was 24. Read More...

Statistics have a way of getting to the meat of a matter. This is especially true when it comes to teen drug abuse statistics because they don't lie. It is hard for us parents to imagine that teens go around taking drugs that will be harmful to their bodies and could kill them just to 'get high' or experiment. But they do, the statistics show it. And they tell the survey people, but parents are the ones left to puzzle it out on their own.... read more Teen Drug Abuse Statistics.

Related Teen Drug Use Articles:

• Screening Quiz: Is my teen using drugs?
• Set the Rules Teens and Drug Use
• All Teen Drug Use and Abuse Articles and Resources

These summer activities for teens can be done individually, with friends or with the whole family. Each week has four different types of teen summer activities: Make This (Recipe), Craft This, Learn How and Get Out and Go! Each activity idea is fun for your teen. Check out week one's summer activities for teens now.

Have a teen that has gone to the prom and nightly parties? Did you extend curfew? How did you curb your teen from drinking and driving? Please share your thoughts, advice and experiences on Prom Night as a parent of a teen. Read the advice given by other parents and add yours here.

Parents of newborns who do not sleep through the night are not the only parents who need a break and/or time to get away from it all. Parents of teens who are busting into independence, dating, driving and have hectic schedules need to be aware that these stressors will have an effect on how they are feeling. Take our quiz to see if you are dealing with a case of parental burnout.

Parenting a teen in the digital age is harder than you would think, considering many parents feel as connected to digital space as their teens. Plus, we trust that our schools know what they are doing when they hand out machines that not only connect our kids to every other person and place in the entire World Wide Web, but it also gives them a way to try out different - and sometimes downright nasty - identities anonymously. We would know if something were going on, right?

Hope Witsell was a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide in 2009. She had been harassed for pictures of her breasts by some boys, one of them being a boyfriend. Now, I'm going to stop right here and go off on a little tangent. Parents of teen boys, listen up. Talk to your sons tonight. Tell them that asking for pictures of girls in compromising positions or nude is not a testament to their growing manliness. Tell them that your family, the one that they belong to, does not condone this type of behavior for any reason. Tell them that you trust they will do the right thing and walk away if their friends are doing this or delete any picture sent to them. Teach them some character.

Now back to Hope Witsell, she sent a picture and was teen sexting with her boyfriend. The picture went viral and she began to get harassed, by everyone in her school. Read More...

It is imperative that parents of teens get on board with preventative measures when it comes to prescription drug abuse as 17% of high school students admitting to abuse of prescription drugs in their lifetimes. And it is one of the drugs of abuse that teens get away with using because parents do not know that they should be vigilant in checking their prescription and over the counter medications... read more Teen prescription and over the counter drug abuse kills teens - Is My Teenager Abusing Prescription Drugs? How Parents Can Know.

Related Resources:

• Drug Use Screening Quiz: Is my teen using drugs?
• Marijuana: Is My Teen Using Marijuana?
• Prescription Drug Abuse in Teens

I've been working very hard at updating some of my pages for you all out there in cyberspace as I feel strongly that having the best information available to help you raise your teens is going to make for much happier families... and I like that I can help. So, here are the latest updated pages:

• Prescription Drug Abuse in Teens
• Teen Sexting
• Bath Soaps, Salts and Makeup Crafts for Teens
• Curfews and Teenagers
• Teens and Texting
• Teen Magazines
• Teens and Tattoos

It didn't take long for teens to figure out that their parents were going to catch up to the cell phone culture and start using cell phone contracts and check up to see if they are doing things that they shouldn't be doing. For instance, sending naked pictures of themselves or passing the ones along to others that they have been sent. Which brings me to a tangent I've wanted to explore but have not found out the answers to yet: If the teen who is sexting gets caught and placed in jail for having naked pictures of a minor, what happens to all of the friends who passed the picture along? Aren't they guilty of the same crime? Thinking of an incident that I know of, there would be 100 teens behind bars. It is a good thing law makers are rethinking the laws using intent as a precursor to what the crime actually is.

Since code has been a part of teen texting from the beginning, it really isn't too far a stretch that teens are using it for sexting purposes, right? Here are a few code words you might like to know for the next time you spot check your teens phone:

• "GNRN" is code for Get Naked Right Now
• "CD9" means Parents Are Around
• "NSAS" means No Strings Attached Sex
• "TDTM" is Talk Dirty To Me

Want to know more? Go to the Internet Slang Dictionary and Translator. Then talk to your teen about sexting and let them in on the fact that you know there is code for words you would prefer they do not use on their cell phone. Give them a clear message and some time before following through and checking their phones. Please share your thoughts, opinions and advice in the comments area.

Related Resources:

• Teens and Texting
• Teen Sexting: How to Prevent Your Teen from Engaging in Sexting
• Parenting Teens Contract Cell Phone Use
• Teen Sexting - What Should the Laws Be?
• Teen Sexting

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Photo credit: © Flickr User: MoreSatisfyingPhotos.