Dr. Gwenn’s Huffington Post Blog
It’s here again…high school graduation season. That annual rite of passage for high schoolers coast to coast to embark upon that much anticipated journey from home to that first true independent step outside the safety net of their childhood homes and communities.
The coverage about Michael Blasil’s suicide raises important issues about how to really help depressed teens…and where to look for resources in our own communiti
My daughter really wants an iTouch. She’s 12…a tween. We heard nothing about this until recently when a friend was over who happened to have been given one for a holiday gift. It turns out that many of her friends have them now so she feels like iPods are suddenly passe.
Instead of asking us for one or concocting a plan to put it on her next birthday list, she came up with the idea to earn enough money for it by doing chores around the house.
Does your teen or tween every travel alone? “Of course not,” you say. What about school trips in middle school or high school? What about overnight camp and day trips or overnights they may take?
Childhood obesity is a challenging problem. As difficult as it is for a parent to acknowledge that their child is overweight, it is even more daunting for that parent to figure out how to even being to talk to the child about loosing weight.
The 2009-2010 school year game plan was simple enough: avoid the wide spread school closings that occurred at the end of the 2008-2009 school year when H1N1 first came into our lives.
When my youngest daughter was 9 and solidly a tween, I noticed very quickly her interests changed overnight to included everything from fashion concerns to friendship angst, and even boys with noticeable hormones churning at every corner. Like most 4th graders, her teacher gave out the Scholastic Book order form each month. One particular month, my daughter asked for this Girl’s Club thing – sounded innocent enough. I figured we’d get the first round then cancel.
Puberty can be a confusiong time for kids and parents. You’ll feel a lot better about the process if you know what to expect. This section is really intended for teens and tweens but talk to your parents before reading too far. In fact, you’ll get more out of this page if you look at it with your parents!
Just like Captains Picard and Kirk on Star Trek, we encounter aliens daily as our kids evolve through puberty. Those aliens are none other than our teens and tweens, or Ts for short. I have to admit I was a nonbeliever that the alien force could start so young until my girls both entered the terrible Ts at the early age of 9. But, that is when it begins – tweendom and puberty.
Our summer has had some interesting moments. Summer camp had barely begun before our 9 year old daughter threw us a curve ball. “Mom, J is going to sleep away camp this year. You HAVE to let me go next year – otherwise I’ll be the only 5th grader in the entire world not going.” I have to say, while she’s been somewhat of a pneumatic drill on the topic this summer, watching her try to convince us has been quite amusing.
