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Teens: Drunk Driving

As a parent we expect so much from our teens. We automatically assume that they will do what they are told and listen to our advice. They are teens and teens by nature are driven by their hormones. One of the most common things parents worry about is their child drinking and driving. There are few things you can do in an effort to deter the possibility of this.

The car that they use to drive is very likely not in their name. You set a curfew as to when that car is in the driveway. For example, while your 17 year old teens’ curfew is 11pm, the curfew for the car should be 9pm. You can limit the amount of time they spend driving, therefore you will be limiting the possibility of them driving drunk in that particular car.
Your teen’s friends are another huge indicator of the possibility of them drinking and riving. You know if your teen’s friends are prone to partying. If this is the case, you limit the amount of contact they have with those particular friends and then give them more freedom with the more trustworthy friends.
Befriend your teen. Take them out. Go see movies, go shopping or whatever it is that they like to do. If they trust you, they will tell you more information about their private lives and giving you a window into what the chances of something like drunk driving may be. This may seem a bit underhanded, but you should not look at it like that. You are doing your job as a parent and keeping them safe through being their friends.

When it comes to things like teens driving under the influence of alcohol, all possible actions should be utilized. Your teen’s life and others can be at stake. Whatever you do to prevent this from happening, you should start doing right at puberty. This is when the domino’s start to fall and it can be hard to stop them from falling if you do not stop them to begin with.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Adolescence, Driving under the influence, Drunk Driving

Teen Development: Parenting 101

Sex, drugs and rock and roll, well maybe not rock and roll these days, but regardless your teen is not a child anymore. They are miniature versions of adults with raging hormones. They are no longer your little angels or pudgy faced baby’s that want you to kiss their boo boos. The vast majority of teens prefer that their parents stay out of their business as much as possible. It is not your job to kiss boo boos anymore but to help them control those hormones that can make your teen seem irrational at times.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Adolescence, Teenagers, Youth

How to Cultivate a Budding Relationship

A relationship begins when two people find each other attractive and begin to date. Sometimes the relationship between couples work out, sometimes it doesn’t. These are a few tips that can help keep any relationship healthy, fun and alive.

One of the easiest ways to kill any relationship is no communication. You can’t read each other’s mind. If a problem arises, you two may not be able to settle it without turning to anger and yelling. Talking and listening to one another helps improve a relationship. It also evokes understanding between partners. Another tip is to have patience. You can’t be in a relationship without it. It’s important to be patient and not jump to conclusions all the time in regards to your partner. It will lead to feelings of mistrust and jealousy.

Having respect for yourself and your partner is something very important in any relationship. You want them to know you understand them and that they give you the same understanding. In all honesty, always have self-respect first so you can give it honestly to others. The best thing to be when you’re just learning to be with someone is to be yourself. You don’t want to be fake, make up lies about yourself or try to be something to you’re not. That is another quick way to end a relationship and lose your partner. Love has got something to do with it, though it isn’t the only thing. Patience, respect and honesty are the basis for any healthy relationship.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Health, Intimate relationship, relationship

Why Parenting Isn’t Child’s Play

Raising children isn’t an easy task. Parenting your children to becoming proper adults is something every parent strives for. It takes proper education, discipline and love to raise good kids. The parents, however, must be responsible, good-natured adults. Many young men and women have children too early in their lives. They’re unsatisfied and sometimes families fall apart. It can leave the children feeling it is their fault and that may be where parenting has failed.

Most parents make the mistake of expecting their child to excel in school. All children learn differently. It’s hard to not compare your child’s learning experience to another child that may be learning with no problems. Tutoring or even helping your child with their homework not only helps them learn. It also gives you quality and necessary time with your child. Parenting is also about reassurance for any child. They’re young, innocent individuals. They require gentle reinforcement and lots of reassurance.

Another parenting mistake is the use of profanity and other bad habits in front of your child. They’re basically little compilations of you and your spouse. They learn from you and will mimic you often. If they see you swear, hit or shove your spouse, they too will pick up on this sort of behavior. Most parents also try to become their child’s friend. Parenting is about rearing, teaching and setting limits until they can make good decisions on their own. Good parenting will reward you with a happy, grounded and healthy child.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Child, Family, Parent

Letting Kids Make Some Decisions

You have come this far and now you have a teenager in your home. For so long you have worked to keep them safe, teach them right from wrong, and make sure that they are going to be able to take care of themselves. In the midst of all of this, there are times when they are going to need some room to grow and make their own decisions. While this can be very difficult, remember that this is just one more way that you are helping them grow.

Begin with smaller decisions. There are going to be times that you give them a choice and you see them make the wrong one. When this happens, if it doesn’t effect their safety or the safety, try to just let them go and work it out for themselves. It can be tough because you already know what is going to happen, but sometimes this is an even more powerful lesson that what you would be able to teach them. Learning from a mistake can leave a lasting impression and really open their eyes.

As they gain your trust and you see them really thinking about decisions, begin to give them more opportunity to make choices. It might be that they need to decide between spending time on a book report and going over to a friends house. It might be whether or not they plan on studying for a test at the end of the week. It might even be a decision that involves their money. Again, even if you know that things are going to turn out disastrous, do the best that you can to let them rest on their own decisions and the consequences that ensue.

Remember that it isn’t always about bad decisions. When you give them some room and you see them make the right decision, be sure to let them know. Point out their decision and the results. Making a decision, good or bad, is going to teach them something important, so give them some space and see what happens.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Decision making, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Management

Teen Engagements

If you have a teenager, you may come home one day and find out that your teen has become engaged. This is surprisingly common, and also generally quite the shock to the parents. When you find out that your teen is engaged, there are a lot of emotions that you may experience, and a lot of things that you may want to say. Stay calm, and discuss this with your child.

Though many parents come home to children with engagement rings, it is something that not all teens go through with. In fact, you will want to take this time to talk to you child about marriage and relationships. Understand their point of view, and find out why they think that they should get married at such a young age. If they are under 18, they will most likely need your permission to get married. Take time, and do not make a decision rashly. In most cases, you will likely tell your child to wait until they are at least 18, but give them your reasoning.

This is a tough situation for parents. Consider where your child is coming from, as well. They may think that this is “the one”, but try to help them realize that, even if that is true, they don’t have to rush into marriage. Be patient with your child. In many cases, they may even have a long engagement planned. Don’t just jump to conclusions when you see an engagement ring. Having an open and frank discussion is the best way to go about this situation.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Child, Marriage, Parent

Talking to Your Child About Drugs and Alcohol

Parents know that throughout the time they spend raising kids, there are a few conversations that can be a little difficult to start up. When it comes to the birds and the bees it can be awkward, embarrassing and sometimes end up in disaster. If talking to your child about drugs and alcohol is giving you the same sense of anxiety, take a deep breath and come up with a plan that you feel confident about.

Decide how you want to bring it up. Sometimes there is a looming feeling of something bad when an adults says, “Hey, your mother and I want to talk to you about something.” Teenagers automatically begin wondering what you know, what you saw, and how you found out. Being more casual and laid back might be an easier road to take. Just because you aren’t making a big deal about it doesn’t mean that you aren’t taking it seriously. You might want to bring it up in a discussion about something related. You might want to bring it up at a time when you are just out having a good time together.

Don’t come across like you know everything. Parents have already made it through their youth. They do know what it is like to feel the pressure that comes with your peers are partaking of drugs and alcohol. You know what it is like to see someone’s life lead to a catastrophe because of these choices. However, things are different. Today’s world is different than it used to be. So as you approach it, feel free to let them know how it was for you. Be honest with them about how you feel. And then . .just listen. Give them a chance to talk to you about it. Let them know that they can come to you about these things.

Filed Under: Counseling, Parenting Tagged With: Adolescence, Substance abuse, The birds and the bees

Internet Safety

Installing child monitoring software on a computer is quite easy. Many of today’s programs no longer need a disk for download, rather a user can find a download for software directly from a website. For instance, AOL has a child monitoring system that allows parents to keep track of what their child is doing and seeing while online. The software is easy to download, as simple as the click of a button, and the computer does the rest. The program comes with a tutorial so all the guess work is removed from the process. While this is just one example of child monitoring software that is available, there are other software such as PC Tools that parents can use to enhance their computer’s overall performance. They are all very easy to use, navigate, download, and incorporate into a family’s computer. This means that the frustration of figuring out how to protect a child while online is significantly diminished.

There are many reasons why parents want to have monitoring software on their computer systems. One of the biggest reasons is to protect children from online predators. There have been thousands of cases where adults have posed as children, opening accounts for children’s sites that have chat rooms, and then conned a child to meet in person. There have been cases of abduction, abuse, and murder as a result from these predatory meetings. The cases of this type of event were becoming so numerous that the FBI has a separate division hunting and seeking child predators online. By having software that monitors a child’s activity online, parents can see who the child is speaking with, when, and about what. Parents have the potential to protect their children, and even save their lives.

Filed Under: General, Parenting Tagged With: Child, Online predator, Parent

Help Your Teen Get a Good Start at College

When a teenager goes off to college, a parent understandably has a lot of worries and concerns. That makes sense, but you don’t have to be afraid of all the things your teen is up to. Instead, give them some great gifts that they can use in their dorm room, so they don’t feel as though they have to go out for everything. They can invite their friends back to their dorm room to have fun, and they won’t be out late at parties and other functions where they could end up drinking or doing other things that they shouldn’t.

Many teens have trouble at college because they had to leave their favorite pet behind. They aren’t able to bring their four-legged friend to the dorm with them, and they have to rely on mom and dad to take good care of their pet while they’re gone. If you get them good computer tools and games, they can not only check in more often, but they can also enjoy their down time and be distracted from some of the worries that they might otherwise have about what’s going on at home. You can get them all kinds of fun and useful things at Subscription.com, where you’ll locate plenty of gifts to send them off to college with.

Of course, you may also want to give your teen some cash, because that’s always a great gift. So are prepaid debit and credit cards, so that you’re able to control spending to some degree without making your teen feel like he or she is being treated like a little kid. Since you know your teen is going to miss his or her pet, why not get a subscription to your teen’s favorite magazine, so there’s more to enjoy during times where there isn’t much going on and relaxing is possible? That can make a really great and thoughtful gift.

Filed Under: Education, Parenting Tagged With: College Life, Dormitory, Student

From the Home to the World: The Challenge of Home Schooling

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Being a parent is hard enough; try being a teacher as well! However, some individuals can somehow pull it off, both raising and teaching their children to be veritable honor roll students in high school or even college. It’s becoming more common than ever before to see home schooling as a valid facet of education. The stigma’s hardly there that a home-schooled child will have characteristics of a severe introvert, a troublemaker, or even an underachiever. However, there’s still one challenge parents must face–especially when their child grows up and heads toward college.

Without a doubt, starting immediately on the first day, you have to recognize this one fundamental truth: that’ll be the very first day in your son or daughter’s life that he or she is left alone to take care of responsibilities. You won’t be there anymore. It might be a little terrifying. Making the transition from home school to college can be a difficult one. But as long as you–through the years of studying in home schooling–try to help your child reveal his or her own personality.

Through their own drive with the development of unique gifts and talents, you can rest assured that when the time comes for your child to venture out into the real world, he or she will be as prepared as possible for any outcome. Have open communication with your child; let them know what the real world is like. Build their courage, encourage risk-taking on a certain level. Moreover, if you plan on developing these latent personality traits longer, you even have the option of putting your high school graduate through an online university with the help of certain resources, such as EarnMyDegree.com.

Your options are open–just to make sure to do the same with your eyes. It’s a big world out there. Definitely open your eyes and recognize the challenge; because without your eyes open, you will never open your child’s.

Filed Under: Education, Parenting Tagged With: Distance education, High school, Homeschooling