Parents of tweens need to start early and be aware of the signs of adolescent substance abuse to help them make responsible choices as they age. Raising tweens and teens is fraught with challenges. Gone are the days when you could fix a problem by offering a snack or kissing a bruise. Young adults face […]
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Is My Teen Experimenting With Alcohol?
For many teens, as they get closer to adulthood, they’re in a hurry to experience grown-up things, like alcohol. For parents, as your teen pushes boundaries, it’s common for you to be concerned about underage drinking. Experimenting with alcohol should not be considered a rite of passage or just something that teens are going to […]
Conversation Starters for Teens and Parents: How to Talk About the Hard Stuff
Perhaps the hardest thing about being a parent of a teenager is having difficult conversations that can be awkward or tense for one or both of you. The key to making these conversations more comfortable and productive is developing a strong parent-child relationship, and that starts with open communication at an early age. Even if […]
How to Address Risky Behavior From Your Teen
As a parent, you want to protect your child from everything. In the teenage years, the scrapes and bruises from horseplay at the playground make way for other dangers like underage drinking and drug misuse. Parents protect teenagers by helping them avoid making bad decisions — and by teaching them that risky behavior has consequences. […]
10 Healthy Choices Your Teen Needs to See You Making
Parents are perhaps the most influential role models for their children. What you say and do, the healthy habits you practice, and the activities and relationships you prioritize will have a significant impact on your kid’s life and a major influence on children’s decision-making process. Consider a parent who chooses chips and soda over water […]
How Child-Rearing Shifts During the Teen Years
It seems like children change overnight from innocent, playful kids into tweens and teenagers experiencing hormonal shifts and questioning the complex world we live in. Parents are often nervous about navigating the parent-child relationship during those teen years when their children begin testing their independence and challenging or questioning authority. They’re maturing, and parents may […]
Parenting Teens: What Your Teen Needs From You Now
Admit it: Parenting is hard. It doesn’t get easier as your kids get older; it just changes. As your child grows and develops, so do your parenting skills. And the same set of skills you used to potty train your toddler won’t necessarily apply during the teen years. In many ways, parenting teens is the […]
How a Parent’s Drinking Affects Their Child
Kids are imitators. From birth, they learn everything they know by watching the people around them. Parents are the first to teach their children to talk, use a spoon, and to walk. They learn our best traits, such as being respectful to the cashier at the grocery store. They also learn our worst traits, like […]
How to Raise Responsible Children
Florida mom Tina Nelson* discovered her 17-year-old son drank alcohol underage with a friend while Tina and her husband were out of town. They confronted him and he reluctantly admitted it, in the face of undeniable evidence. “Since he lost our trust, he got to go with us every weekend for the next two months!” […]
Underage Holiday Drinking: Operation ‘Holiday-Party Parenting’
N.C. Launches Campaign to Warn Families about Liability/Risks for Underage Holiday Drinking Holiday festivities are a time North Carolina families celebrate the season and the new year ahead. But if kids get a hold of alcohol, they can damage their brains, and parents could face criminal liability. That’s why Talk it Out NC, a state-sponsored […]