Many parents try to be far better parents than their parents were, yet their children grow up feeling lost and empty. Discover why in this article. There was an interesting article in The Atlantic, entitled “How to Land Your Kid in Therapy: Why the obsession with our kids’ happiness may be dooming them to unhappy adulthoods. A therapist and mother reports.” The article is about the way many parents focus much of their energy on being there for their children, but their children end up feeling lost and empty. One of the issues I’ve written about extensively is that half of good parenting is being there for our children, and the … [Read more...]
Talking To Your Daughter About Her Body
December 17, 2013 by 2 Comments
A friend of mine emailed me an article on what to be mindful of when you talk to your daughter about her body. analgesic pills. I found the article insightful and helpful and I thought the readers of this magazine would benefit from it. The article has been republished in the Huffington Post and I'm sharing it below: How to talk to your daughter about her body, step one: Don't talk to your daughter about her body, except to teach her how it works. Don't say anything if she's lost weight. Don't say anything if she's gained weight. If you think your daughter's body looks amazing, don't say that. Here are some things you can say … [Read more...]
Why Do Teenagers Seem To Take It All Out On Their Parents?
November 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
By Karen Vincent I have heard so many parents say that they do not understand how their teenager can behave for teachers, with their friend's parents, with relatives but not with them. This often causes parents to question their parenting abilities and can create a lot of negative feelings between parent and teenager. What is likely happening if you are in this situation, is that you are receiving the biggest backhanded compliment from your teenager. It feels more just like a backhand period...but it many ways, it really is a compliment. What happens is that teenagers walk around confused, unsure and often feeling out of control much of … [Read more...]
Helping Your Kids Overcome Fear of Failure
October 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Dr. Sherri Singer's article from last week, Why Failure Is Not Always A Bad Thing For Kids, addresses the very important topic of learning and striving for success (meaning whatever you want to accomplish) and to keep going at it rather than giving up in the process. Dr. Singer's article has a wealth of wisdom that may be overlooked by some readers because it was written from more of a logical, academic perspective rather than a personal and passionate one--which is why I'm revisiting her article and using my own personal experience to examine how we can cultivate a passion for learning and to instill more awareness of the value of lifelong … [Read more...]
The Next Level of Parenting
October 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
By Nicholeen Peck So many people ask me how to take their parenting to the next level, even with their out-of-control children. A man I really admire named Jeffrey Holland said, "... the only real control in life is self-control." True self-control is the next level of parenting. Here's why. You can control the settings on your computer, and control the television choices that come into your home. You can control all the things written down as your Family Standard and you can control what your family eats for dinner, but you can't control another person. No matter how hard you try and how much power you try to look like you have, the … [Read more...]
Tired of Worrying? 5 Ways to Turn This Around
September 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
What do you worry about? If you haven't worried about anything this past week, then don't read this article. But I'm guessing you have. Even the most enlightened and spiritual will find themselves in a state of worry. We worry about different things. We worry about our daughters, marriage, job, parents or money. Your daughter worries just as much as you but over different things. (Even if she acts like she doesn't care about anything.) She worries about her friends, boyfriend or no boyfriends. She worries if she'll make the team or get in the college of her choice. Worry is an uninvited guest. You don't wake up and think … [Read more...]
Friend or Parent?
August 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
By Expert Contributor Desiree Phillips. As I write this first article for Parenting Teenage Girls magazine, I can’t help but think of the person who influenced me the most as a teenager, above all others. It was my Mom. She was the best parent and what every daughter hopes for when she reflects on her childhood and teen years. I’m proud of the life choices and lessons I’ve learned thanks to her invaluable guidance. She instinctively knew how to love deeply, be vulnerable with me while teaching and to hold the line on tough issues. She had an unwavering sense of knowing what was needed, when. And when sometimes we learned things … [Read more...]