May is Mental Health Awareness Month. If you are a parent of a teenager, then you most likely have heard of last year’s groundbreaking Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why. The general topics revolved around teen stress, anxiety, depression, and self-harm. If you are a parent who would like to learn more, I highly recommend that you ...read more
6 Tips to Help Your High Schooler With Senioritis
The college application process is over, Spring Break is upon us, prom is around the corner and graduation is quickly approaching for our high school seniors. After 12 or more years in school, they are almost done and as they hunch over their laptops to complete their final projects and take their final exams. They can feel ...read more
Anxiety in the Age of Social Media: What to Do for You & Your Family
Is social media ruining our relationships and causing anxiety and depression in our teens and tweens? My wife and I were lucky enough to raise our three children before the age of social media, but the studies I’m reading on the negative and dangerous effects that social media is having on the development of children’s and teenagers social ...read more
How to Apologize Well and Repair a Relationship
People are sorry all over the place. Some apologies are demanded. Some are expected. Some are politically played. There’s a new celebrity apology every month and some get it right and some may never recover. There are angry and flippant apologies, “I’m sorry, Ok?!?!” There are fauxpologies, “I’m sorry that you feel that way.” There ...read more
How to Create the Best Possible First Day Back to School for Your Child…and You!
Parents, before you start doing your celebration dance with the kids going back to school, make sure you have your ducks in order, physically, mentally and emotionally, so both you and the kids are prepared before the first big day. And I know many of you may have already gone back to school, but it’s never too late to have these conversations ...read more
13 Reasons to Watch 13 Reasons Why
A few days ago, I was contacted by a journalist who asked me to comment on the Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why. If you aren’t familiar with this production, it is an authentic depiction of what can and has happened when bullying, slut-shaming, body-shaming, betrayal, revenge, and other forms of verbal and physical abuse goes ...read more
The X-Plan: How to Help Your Tween or Teen Get Out of a Dangerous Situation
In general, I like to blog on a weekly basis. And about 98% of the time, I generate the blogs that you see here. But every now and then I come across an idea that can be so very helpful, whether it’s mine or someone else’s, that I naturally want to help spread the word – especially as it relates to the safety and health of our kids. This is ...read more
Boys Bullying and Teasing Girls: It’s Not Always Physical
In a previous blog, we talked about how 23.7% girls were bullied in a sample size of 12 million + students according to a study by the U.S. Department of Education. The rest of that article went on to talk about girl on girl bullying. But girls aren’t the only perpetrators of relational aggression – or “mean girl”-type social ...read more
Mean Girls: Who They Are, Why They Are So Mean, and How To Deal With Them
You see the looks; feel the chills. All of a sudden, your friends aren’t you friends anymore. Or at least they aren’t acting like your friends. They give you one-word answers (or as few words as they can get away with). They don’t wait for you at the end of the day, or when going to lunch. They even seem to be giggling at your jokes made ...read more