Are you ready to send your teen back to school? I’m not. We’re still doing summer vacation thing here – and having a lot of fun with it! I’m not sure I want it to end. But end it must, I guess. Every school year your teen faces big changes when he/she goes back to school. Your teen is older, classes are getting harder and his/her future is getting closer. All of this causes very real stress - your teen is going to need your help!

You can give your teen a strong trouble-free start this school year by following these five back to school steps. Do you have more tips for other parents? Leave them in the comments area.

Reading is an important skill that all parents need to encourage their children to master. A person who can read, and read well, is more likely to:

• graduate from college;
• get a higher paying job;
• experience the joys of learning new things;
• and enjoy the stress-reducing entertainment of a good book.

While it can be harder to turn a teen on to reading than say, a 3-year-old who loves the attention you give when you read him/her a book, it is not anywhere near impossible. Here are a few tried and true tactics you can use to turn your teen into an avid reader.