September 01, 2010 | Posted in Editor's Notes | Post a comment | Share Article |
In eight or less years, your teenager is going to turn 21 - a full-fledged adult. Eight more New Years isn't such a long time away, considering the vast amount of coaching and learning that your teen still needs in order to be ready to face a lifetime of non-stop challenges!
Even if you don't have a teenager at home, this edition is still relevant to you, as it also contains articles for parents with children of other age groups as well.
The following is our spread for September 2010, beginning with the ones for teens first:
Cell Phones: Should I Say Yes? by Armin Brott, book author and “Mr Dad”
You might think this article should have appeared under the previous “Parenting Pre-Teens” edition. Personally, I’d say no cell phones to kids till they’re at least in their teens. Any child who’s not yet an older teenager is supposed to be minded by an adult anyway, so why would he/she need to have a cell phone all to himself/herself?
Paul Hagan asks whether we really want our children’s minds to be programmed by the sea of sense-numbing computer games, TV programmes and movies that are making technological waves today.
Anne Hamilton warns us that when teenagers are under great pressure to overachieve, they might turn to...drugs!
Phillip Longmire, who has worked among teenage drug users for 11 years, asserts that the first step is knowing how to identify the problem in the first place, as suspicion and false allegations could cause irreparable damage to the parent-child relationship.
Dr Maryann Rosenthal, clinical psychologist and bestselling author, says it’s best to know your style as early as possible and opt for the best approach.
Sibling Rivalry: Lose the Fight, not the Love by Lori Radun, certified life coach for mothers
Some degree of conflict and competition are natural among siblings, but don’t let it deteriorate into something more unhealthy and unmanageable. (Sadly, this has even led to homicide - one young man killed his only brother in Sabah early this year. Their parents blamed it on sibling rivalry since childhood.)
Causes of Sibling Rivalry: 10 Ways to Create Sibling Rivalry by Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman, authors of The 10 Commitments: Parenting with Purpose
A tongue-in-cheek eye-opener - it made me wish someone had told me all this earlier!
Parenting Models for Adults and Children by Dr Art Martin
We are either following a functional model or a dysfunctional one. It’s usually the model that’s been passed down to us by our parents. As parents yourselves now, you need to break whatever dysfunctional model you might be unwittingly passing on to your children.
Yelling at your spouse in front of the kids? It’s a big no-no if you want them to see you as a united couple. Get 8 tips from parent coach Toni Schutta on how to control those boiling emotions for the sake of your kids.
Parents tend to be too lenient or too strict. Jean Tracy gives you very specific tips on how to be firm.
You'd rather give in to your child’s request than deal with his tantrums – sounds familiar? Compromising discipline for convenience is a bad trade-off. Toni Schutta offers a better alternative.
Authors Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman show you how to do it without undermining your child
Instead of letting your impressionable kids be sucked into materialism and consumerism, tell them what advertisers really want from us.
5 Scary Trends Parents Must Face by Toni Schutta, a parent coach
Depression, self-centredness, early peer pressure, being stressed out and materialism – how should parents grapple with these increasingly common problems among children today?
Tips to Teaching Youth Life Skills by Vince Shorb
To alleviate the myriad of problems that many children face nowadays, what kind of lifelong skills should we equip our children with?
And something for you parents yourselves…
Author Kinjal Shah explains a few NLP concepts and how we can incorporate them into our parenting approach for better outcomes.
Founder of Successful Single Parenting, Jennifer Broadley, shares 5 “best practices” for single parents.
A reflection by Susie Cortright on how to relax amid tons of commitments...
There's more, but you'll discover those as you browse through our "Articles" menu.
Our children from Gen Z (or the "Net Generation" born between the early 1990s and the late 2000s*) will grow up to become the educators, entrepreneurs, leaders and parents of tomorrow.
Do you like what you see now? What can you do about it today?
Barbara Tey
Web Editor
*Source: Wikipedia
