Anxiety is a healthy emotion, except when it’s not. Experiencing anxiety can be just what we need to finish a project or task, or deal with a stressful situation. But it can also be overwhelming and debilitating. Read more ›
If you have a senior in high school, you probably know that the last of the college-admissions decisions for the class of 2022 will land in the coming days.
Maybe your teen got into their dream school. If that’s the case, congratulations! But there’s a good chance that your child will face, or already is grappling with, one of the biggest disappointments of their life. Read more ›
This is a really tough time for teens. I know what you’re thinking—the teen years have always been tough. Youth mental health is in crisis. What’s been going on? Read more ›
Children will avoid expending energy on tasks for all sorts of reasons, whether they think they’re boring, irrelevant or frustrating, or they want to protect their ego or feel pressure to perform. Although it can be easy to engage in a battle of wills, here are seven more productive ways that caregivers can help children overcome their own resistance and accomplish hard things. Read more ›
Kids, especially teens and tweens, sometimes need validation that what they are thinking and feeling is normal and okay. In fact, psychologists believe that validation is one of the most powerful parenting tools, and yet it is often left out of traditional behavioral parent training programs. Read more ›
Parenting is really an art — of balancing being there with letting go. Can your children navigate the world on their own? Will they ever stop needing you and will you ever stop worrying about them? Read more ›
We tend to idealize childhood as a carefree time, but youth alone offers no shield against the emotional hurts, challenges, and traumas many children face. Children can be asked to deal with problems ranging from adapting to a new classroom or online schooling to bullying by peers or even struggles at home. Add to that the uncertainties that are part of growing up in a complex world, and childhood can be anything but carefree. The ability to thrive despite these challenges arises from the skills of resilience. Read more ›
Staying connected as kids approach the teen years and become more independent may become a challenge for parents, but it’s as important as ever — if not more so now. Read more ›
Last night, my daughter snuck upstairs to say (another) goodnight as I was curled up on the couch, watching the news. While I did manage to quickly hide my secret chocolate stash under a throw blanket, I didn’t pause the TV in time to prevent her from the jarring sight of families desperately fleeing a bombed out apartment building in Ukraine. She looked at me, panic-stricken. “Are we in a war?” she asked. She’s nine, and I didn’t know what to say. Read more ›
Our brains develop from the back to the front. The prefrontal cortex — important for impulse control, managing emotions, planning, organization and finishing tasks — is the last to develop, and is not fully mature until our mid-twenties. How does this impact teen behavior and decision making and how can parents make sure we still matter? Read more ›
