Parenting a teen (or tween) isn’t easy. We have certainly heard all the horror stories of defiance, disrespect and general disinterest. But, often such tales of teenage turbulence are wildly exaggerated.   Teens may have a reputation for unsettling their parents and wreaking havoc on family life, but that doesn’t have to be a given. In fact, a majority of families weather the teen years without devastating, long term consequences. I’ve got one teen at home, but in the next few years, I’ll have THREE plus a tween. In preparation, I’ve been reading and researching about behavior t ..read more

Inside:How to help your kids and teens include others and avoid cliques The cars in the drop-off line moved exceedingly slow one cold morning, and I tried to keep my patience while silently chanting, “Pull forward!” My daughters and I were almost to the exit spot when I watched two girls hop out of a minivan. In an instant, I saw a clique of Justice-clad tweens swarm one of the passengers while the other stood off to the side pulling her backpack onto tiny shoulders. “Who are those girls?” I asked. “They aren’t in my class, but they just really love each other, I guess. They are always hanging ..read more

Inside:Halloween Photo Scavenger Hunt for Teens Those days of searching for the latest popular character costume to wear on Halloween might be over but there’s still plenty of fun to be had by teens and parents! It’s a little sad when your older kid finally decides it’s time to turn in the trick or treat bag, but that doesn’t have to mean the end to celebrating Halloween. There are still tons of spooky tween activities and teen activities that are appropriate for scaring up a good time on Halloween night. We’ve got an excellent list of Halloween Alternatives For Teens that may give you so ..read more

Inside:The Best Board Games For Teens: Great For Family Game Night My teen never talks to me anymore. My teen always wants to spend time with their friends. I feel like I’m losing my child.  As our kids get older, connecting with them can become more difficult. However, sometimes we forget, that teenagers are still kids. They still like to play and have fun. One of the best ways to re-engage your teen is to order a pizza and sit down for an old fashioned family game night. Yes, people still do that! In fact, I know several teens who will tell you it is one of their favorite family activit ..read more

Easy recipes for tweens and teens to help teach them basic cooking skills can be kind of a double-edged sword. If your tween or teenager is new to cooking, and still needs to really learn how to cook, it can be a little challenging to find recipes that would be a good fit for them. If your teenager is being lazy or reluctant to cook, these are easy dinner and snack recipes that you can use to get them started. Knowing how to cook is really a must have life skill for every teenager. If they need something quick to take on the go, or if they have a little more time to prepare something at home ..read more

Sure there’s lots of talk right now about suddenly transforming everyone’s homes into “homeschools”, but lets be real. We’re all feeling a little stressed and anxious, and many parents are suddenly trying to work at home while also keeping kids occupied. For those of you that are organized and on top of this and have your color coded daily school schedules – Go you! And I really do mean that sincerely. But for the rest of us that just can’t quite get it together. That’s okay too! We are not failing. I mean, aren’t we scheduled enough these days? If one good thing can come out of all of this ..read more

Inside:How we respond when kids are feeling left out is key to helping them build resiliency A few years ago, I watched from my park bench as a young mother tried to console her sobbing daughter. “I’m sorry, honey. I don’t blame you for being upset.” “I don’t know why they won’t let me be in their group for the talent show. They just said they already had enough people and their routine was done and there wasn’t anything they could do about it. I told them I would make a new one up, but they wouldn’t do it.” I tried to focus on my kindle while occasionally looking for my kids to exit the schoo ..read more

When I was in college, part of one of my classes included visiting a business management program at Disney World. There were about 15 of us who went, all in our teens and early twenties. When we found out that a FREE day at Disney World with a park hopper pass was included in our visit, we weren’t quite sure what to think. Most of us had great memories of going to Disney World at kids, but now that we were “sorta” adults, we wondered if Disney could still be as much fun for teens and even “sorta” adults. Wow, were we surprised The trip, and specifically the day at the Disney World parks, ende ..read more

Inside:trusting teens isn’t always about whether they are good kids or not Recently, an acquaintance of mine on Facebook posted asking other parents for suggestions about a monitoring app for her young teen’s new iPhone. One of the first responses to her post was someone who said, ” You’ve raised a good kid so you just need to trust him.” And suddenly with one comment, her very innocent FB post turned into a parenting battlefield. TRUST That is such a tricky word when it comes to parenting our adolescent children. To quote one of my favorite lines, from one of my favorite movies of a ..read more