Turns out many parents and caregivers are feeling pressure to push down on them on a regular basis. So much so that the U.S. Surgeon General put out an Advisory on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents. The U.S. Surgeon General offers a snapshot of the stressors that parents and caregivers face on a regular basis. If you are a parent or caregiver, how much of this resonates with you?

When we need teens to tell us what is bothering them, we need to make sure they have the vocabulary to do it. Feeling words never make it onto an ELA vocabulary quiz yet, somehow, we expect teens to tell us what’s bothering them when something is bothering them. And we want details!

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Often when we speak of dating violence we think of physical violence. In fact, there are several different types of violence teens can experience. Intimate partner violence can include physical violence, sexual violence, and psychological violence. Teens can experience violence in person, online, or through any type of technology.

Parenting is hard. Often the parenting you are providing is enough as long as you have built a healthy foundation of trust with your child.  Parenting is usually not as much about what I want my kids to do or who I want them to be, but who I want to be. 

The transition from childhood to adolescence is complicated on many levels, including from a parenting perspective.  Developmental changes including biological, psychological and social changes make parenting adolescents very different from parenting younger children.