offering help to those who’ll listen

Making Use of Technology in Parenting Teens

September 8th, 2010

You may have exhausted all the rules you knew about raising a teenager, but you have not exhausted all the options. There are many things you could embrace to make raising your teenage child a relief that many parents fail to experience. Technology is just one of them. Our forefathers may not have had the opportunity to use technology in parenting like you do, but raising a teenage today is harder than it was a century ago. In this age of advanced technology, you could experience some of the most stress free moments by carefully and appropriately embracing technology in parenting.

Parenting Easily With Technology

Technology has made parenting easier in many ways. Washing your teenage child’s clothes is not as nightmarish as it may have been years ago. Washing machines have helped many parents save time that would otherwise be wasted in washing many clothes. As a parent you may have found it difficult to convince your teenage child to wash his or her clothes. But, when you make available a washing machine, they would be eager to do the laundry hence take charge of their cleanliness.

The Internet Option

Availability of computers and the internet is also a useful tool that can help you as a parent to raise your teenage child in an appropriate way. Other than letting your teenage child idle around, you may let him or her to take up computer lessons, or take up an online course. You may also provide a platform for your teenage child to go for a virtual tour around the world, other than withstanding the pressure of taking the teenager on a physical tour around the world.

Using the Phone

Parents may also use their phones to meaningfully raise their teenage children. You may use the phone to ask the teenage child where they are, just to make sure they are in the right place, say at school. As a parent, you may use the phone to call the toll free hotlines for parents or teens, in case you may need any assistance for your teenage son or daughter. Other devices like the I-Pods or the I-Phones may keep teenage children occupied, i.e. by listening to music or chatting with their friends on-online. This would definitely keep your teenage son or daughter occupied, other than engaging in harmful practices like drug or alcohol abuse.

Beware Of Addiction To Technology!

The parents should, however, take note too much of preoccupation with technology, i.e. the I-Phone, the internet, the I-Pod may not be that useful for your teenage children. These may be too addictive, hence, harmful to your teenage children. Alternatively, you could provide an avenue in which they can play meaningful games with their friends or go to social functions or events.

http://michelelsimms.blogspot.com/2008/06/technology-and-parenting.html

www.familyresource.com/parenting/

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/child-enfant/parent/index-eng.php

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Teens Academic Answers Resources

September 2nd, 2010

For every teenager, many factors influence their academic achievements in school, especially negative peer pressure. Both parents and teens can benefit greatly from resources that provide academic answers and solutions to improving performance and career choices. You can get information of all types relating to education, from study guides and financial aid options to choosing study partners and balancing personal relationships with studies.

Searching online is a great way of getting information regarding academics for teens and parents alike. Parents can learn how to help their kids with their homework and teens can learn how to manage their time and study effectively for the best grades. Some of the websites containing valuable information are highlighted below.

Education.com is the first place you can look for information about teens and academics. The site contains lots of information that relate to education, from drug use, learning styles, packed lunches and developing habits of successful teenagers, among countless other topics. You will also find all you need for all levels of education, from kindergarten to college, as well as how to choose the right schools for your kids.

You can also find academic advice targeted for both parents and teenagers from KidsHealth.org, where education resources are available from experts in the field of education. An additional advantage of this site is that parents can also use the teaching resources available on the site to help their teens with homework and practice for exams. KidsHealth.org is a site that all members of the family can use, not only teens. As an extra tip, you can check out information about what to include in your child’s backpack as they go to school or for field trips.

One more helpful website is FREE.ed.gov, which is the most practical resource for teens to use in their search for academic answers. FREE stands for Federal Resources for Educational Excellence, which is an all-in-one study resource for your teen in every subject at school. Math, science, art and music, history and world studies among other subjects are all available on the site for free, where you can view and print study guides and content to help in revision and knowledge in any area. This resource also has images, videos and documents that accompany and improve the studying process as well.

All the above academic resources are good for improving teenagers’ performance in school. Parents can get these resources and share with their kids, or the teens themselves can acquire all this information to give them academic answers for excellent performance.

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Bad Company

December 5th, 2007

Due to the lack of maturity in decision making, teenagers are prone to peer pressure. Peer pressure forces someone to change their personality and alter decision making to conform to the norms set by the group. Most of the teens who smoke say that they started smoking because they saw this from their friends and they just tried it and eventually became a vice.


Troubled teens tend to rebel and join inappropriate groups and even gangs. One particular solution for this is to keep the kids away from these types of people. How? Teach them how to look for good friends who can pressure them into doing what is right and just. Bad influence often produce negative results. A parent must be vigilant with the people surrounding their children in order to stop them from joining bad company.

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What is teenage anger?

October 26th, 2007

i'm mad at you

Teenage anger is a natural emotion or feeling felt by an adolescent when reacting to a situation, thing or person. It is usually triggered by external factors, which can manifest both verbally and physically. In most cases, teen kids become angry because they are hurt, confused and even frustrated.  Like everybody else, teenagers can be angry at some point or another. Anger can be experienced in different levels or degrees, which mostly vary on the extent of the experience that induced the emotion. Some teenager cannot really handle anger, that is why they have a certain outrage resulting to bad behavior. When this happens, parents should always step up and  guide or help their kids manage such a feeling that can be very destructive.

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Helping teenagers become aware of their anger

October 26th, 2007

In overcoming teen anger, it is best that you can help your kids identify and become aware of their own feelings. When they are aware of their anger, they can distinguish people, situations and event that are common or recurring factors in causing such emotional episodes.

You and your kids can overcome anger by keeping a record of situations that often lead to anger, such as keeping a journal. Take note of the frequency and occasion of the episodes. You ought to know that not all anger are considered as unnecessary or useless anger. There are times that anger can be very useful or beneficial. For instance,  anger can stir confidence or motivation to overpower a wrong doing or prejudice. Try to teach your kids how to handle anger in a way that will not do damage to others or things. They should be able to understand if their anger is beyond discourse or not.

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Teen anger management

October 26th, 2007

Teenagers are just like adults – they can be angry at situations, things and people. The demands of growing up are sometimes affecting their capacity to function without emotional outbursts and mood swings. Although anger is an natural emotion, the failure to process can lead to inappropriate and destructive behavior. When teenagers become angry, they don’t only damage the object of their anger but also their very own self. As parents, it is very crucial that you will be able to help your kids, particularly when the anger is still subtle or controllable.

You can deal with it without any help, or you can consult a therapist. Either way, it is important that you will completely understand the situation and what your kids are going through. Never take their anger against them, they might resort to more damaging actions than they are already into. Approach them in a manner in which they can successfully channel and express their anger without damaging others, properties or even themselves.

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Teen Anger: Sign of Depression

October 26th, 2007

Depression starts when angry teen kids slowly become helpless. Not all kids are good at channeling their anger into obvious actions. Thus, depression related to teenage anger can be of several forms, yet it is defined by the intensity or how it affects the said teens. Typically, angry teenagers react in two ways. They either entertain their anger and become defiant or destructive, or they will just repress the anger and then eventually withdraw from the situation.

Here are some signs when your teenagers become angry and eventually depressed:

 * having an antisocial behavior
 * sarcasm
 * physically harming others
 * self-mutilation
 * destructive and disruptive
 * confusion
 * frustration
 * fear

When your teenagers are having these signs of anger for a longer period, seek professional help.

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Dealing with teenage anger

October 26th, 2007

Having teenage kids is one of the most challenging tasks of being parents. You have to handle each situation with extreme measures, because you don’t want your kids to be further mad especially at you. Teens can be angry because of pressure from family, friends, school and several other things.

You can actually help your teen kids by talking to them at par and not being a mom or dad. Believe it or not, teenagers hate to be bossed for whatever reasons. Try to approach each situation with a good sense on their part. After which, you can disclose how you feel about the issue, and then ask your children how they also feel about it. Let them know that it is alright to be angry sometimes, and it is important that they know how to deal with it. Or, they can ask your help in resolving the matter.

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Teenage anger and its sources

October 26th, 2007

One of the apparent features of the adolescent period is “emotional issues.” Teenage anger, in particular, has been a source of their confusion and frustration. In turn, teens as well as parents slowly develop reactive behaviors. The friction between the two parties often affects the parent-child relationship. So what really is teen anger? When teenagers become angry, there are usually a number of reasons. They often include:

 * Trauma. For instance, they have an accident in the sports they have always loved. They become mad because their recuperation takes longer than expected.
 * Grief. Deep sadness can be grounded in several things, such as death of a loved one.
 * Abuse. It can be physical, verbal or sexual kind of abuse.
 * Depression. Not performing well in school can be a reason.
 * Alcoholism. Teenagers usually get out of hand when they resort to alcohol abuse.
 * Substance Abuse, like drugs can lead to unpredictable irritability or anger.

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The Mad Teenager

October 26th, 2007

The thing about teenagers is that they usually don’t know but they think they know. They always assume that they are adult enough to do or understand things. They somehow become frustrated because things don’t course their way. They then become frustrated and eventually become angry. Normally, teen kids are mad at something or someone. They are constantly battling with anger for a reason or no reason.

Generally, teenage anger is just a simple feeling and never a behavior. However, when the anger begins to become a behavior, you should start to deal with it as soon as possible. Your kids might gradually develop a behavioral problem. Also, make sure that you will not tolerate their behavior. Some parents usually give in with the attitude or behavior of their teens, because they want to avoid confrontations.

When teens become angry, it can either be healthy or harmful. Their anger is actually a defense mechanism, or sometimes a scary feeling. Anger can be expressed verbally or physically. If it becomes worse, anger usually takes form as violence, sarcasm, addiction, etc.

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