Here is another good news story about young people, another occasion for their mothers and fathers to smile and feel all warm inside.

I don’t put these here to make you feel bad if your kids don’t do this stuff - but to give you hope that not all young people create negativity - now if you could persuade your son or daughter to hag out with good kids!

Rolla resident Dan Phillips writes that he was pleasantly surprised when he took his two daughters, 7 and 5 along with a friend, bowling last Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Writes Phillips, “When we started our second game, a group of teenagers began bowling next to us. The group was bowling next to us for almost an hour and it occurred to me that I did not hear a single swear word or sexual innuendo. They were not rude or loud. They were just great young people.

“In a world filled with the negative thoughts and notions about teenagers, I just wanted to say thanks to Adam, Cody, Cat, Nat and Burt (names from their scoring screen) for their wholesome behavior.

“I wish more young people followed their example.”

Posted: January 29th, 2008 under Parents, Teenager.
Comments: none

Many parents take time to realise that some things are not worth fighting over and Kelly details this in a great, humorous way:

Butterfly (16) flitted around all day, preparing for a weekend retreat up north with her church youth group. A nice thing about parenting teens is that they can pack for themselves. A difficult thing about parenting teens is that they pack for themselves. Items that are entirely inappropriate. But my gosh, I need to pick my battles, and I’d rather save up my “no’s” for issues like beer bongs.

Jim Graham said it like this: Major on the Majors. Of course you have to decide what is a major to your family but if you fought every battle that became available you would be very tired and battle worn.

Posted: January 27th, 2008 under Communication, Parents, Understanding Teenagers.
Comments: none

Alison, over at Life Seminars made a very informative post a few days ago. She said:

Parenting Teen Girls

One thing I hear from parents over and over again is concern for their young girls and their body image. It isn’t unusual for a slim nine-year-old girl to express concern over her weight. What is going on? We know the media plays a huge role in all of this and I too have heard the same concerns voiced from my very petite daughter as well. I have concluded that there are several important areas to focus on

She then went on to list several practical tips on what not to do and what you can do to help your daughter as she grows.

Surely as a society we have to take some responsibility when nine year olds are expressing these concerns - well any age actually but at nine?

Posted: January 25th, 2008 under Parents.
Comments: none

Supernanny has quoted the following:

Jane Hambleton has dubbed herself the “meanest mom on the planet.”

After finding alcohol in her son’s car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old’s misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper.

The ad reads: “OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”

I love the idea of logical consequences [and I am assuming that his parents bought him the car in the first place] but it does come across as a little harsh. Having said that who knows what has gone on before about their son’s drinking habits; or the rules by which he was given the car etc.

Do you think she’s mean?

Posted: January 18th, 2008 under Communication, Parents, Teenager.
Comments: none

There is an interesting training program offered in Mount Shasta [wherever that is!]

Parenting teens workshop — “Parenting Teens, the Truth About Their Language,” 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Mount Shasta Community Resource Center Annex, 107 E. Alma Street, Mount Shasta. Learn teen terms and gather tools to help you communicate better with your teen. Dinner and childcare provided. Pre-registration required by calling 926-1400. No charge.

I guess it would be best if parents could take their cell phones with them because that seems to be the best way to communicate with young people these days. Maybe they will have a module in the training that encourages parents to talk in paragraphs of 160 characters or less?

Free food too! See you there?

Posted: January 15th, 2008 under Communication, Parents.
Comments: none

Karen felt so strongly, so positive that she wrote this letter to her local newspaper:

On New Year’s Day, I was shoveling the six-plus inches from my neighbor’s driveway since they were on vacation.

Two young men, Randy Scott and Dan Kotscharjan from Randy’s Lawn Care in Cary, were driving by and stopped to see if I needed help.

I told them I couldn’t pay them, and they said that it didn’t matter. These two nice, young men had been plowing most of the night, yet they were willing to stop and help me finish shoveling the driveway.

With their help, the driveway was cleaned for my neighbor’s return home.

It goes to show that there are young people who are caring and helpful, and I will be forever grateful for the help from these two nice, young men.

I guess Mrs Scott and Mrs Kotscharjan [Randy and Dan’s mothers] will feel all warm and fuzzy to read that; and - as a side issue - it won’t do the business any harm either.

I wanted to post it just to say - there is good news out there; and mothers - keep up the good work, you do make a difference.

Posted: January 11th, 2008 under Parents.
Comments: 1

Micky expresses it like this:

I think about my family…my “family”…I think I have the most messed up family in the entire world. It was not fun to come home to the mess that was my mom…it was not fun at all…it was not fun to come home to what my brother has become, an angry teenager who hates the world because of the life he has been given…it was not fun to come home to a father who constantly reminds me how much college is costing me…
Christmas wasn’t half bad…for one whole day we could pretend like we were a happy family, I wish it could always be like that

Sad to say, Micky, that there are many more messed up families out there - but in saying that I don’t want to minimise what you live with. Angry teenagers are on the increase I reckon.

And yeah - if we could pretend it was Christmas every day - now wouldn’t that be good!

Posted: January 9th, 2008 under Parents, Teenager.
Comments: 3