Mayo Clinic: Vaping Causes Health Risks to Teens

Is your teenager vaping? Many people believed that vaping is less harmful than smoking cigarettes. Since then, new information has revealed that there are some health risks that come from vaping. The Mayo Clinic points out that vaping can negatively affect health of teens. Part of the reason is because the vaping liquid includes nicotine. According to the Mayo Clinic, nicotine dependence in teens and young adults is particularly concerning because when a person is younger than 25, the brain is still developing. Exposing a developing brain to an addictive drug such as nicotine can potentially lead to permanent alterations in … Continue reading →

Google Surveyed Teens About What’s Cool

What brands does your teenager think are cool? Google surveyed over 1,000 teens that are part of Generation Z in an effort to find out what people of this age group think is cool. They put the results together in a project called “It’s Lit – A Guide to What Teens Think is Cool”. Generation Z includes people who were born between the mid-1990s to early 2000s. However, Google chose to focus their research on 13-17 year olds. The teenagers were asked to rank 122 brands based on how cool each brand is. According to the teens who took part … Continue reading →

Embrace the Baggy

“No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks.” School’s out for the summer in my neck of the woods, and for my recently graduated first grader and the rest of her classmates, it means freedom from their starchy red, white and blue uniforms. “I’m wearing shorts and slippers all summer!” my daughter declared last night. Better than nothing at all. I understand my child’s desire to frolic in non-restrictive clothing, but you still won’t catch her strolling to the park in shorts that expose her underwear. I’m not about the baggy. In fact, I’ve been rather outspoken … Continue reading →

Kids’ Birthday Parties—How Much Is Too Much?

Recession? What recession? The economic crisis, which has battered and bruised many Americans, is apparently a non-issue if your name is Diddy. The rapper with 1,000 names–he was born Sean Combs, but later morphed into “Puff Daddy,” then “P. Diddy,” then the artist known as “Diddy,” then “Straight up P,” and now just “Diddy”—-is showing the world that money really can buy love. And that goes double if you are a parent. Daddy Diddy recently made headlines when he threw his son an insanely expensive Sweet 16 party. The ultimate birthday bash took place at one of New York City’s … Continue reading →

Extreme Punishments

Note to angry parents: Shaving off your kid’s hair to punish her for shoplifting is NOT a good idea. Just ask Ajpacaja-Ajiataz. The Florida dad claims he lost it when he heard that his tween daughter stole jewelry from the local Wal-Mart, and then used a Game Boy without permission, so he did what any angry parent would do… first he hit her with a belt and then he shaved off all her hair. For the record, the 34-year-old father denies using a belt on his 11-year-old daughter, though he did admit that he cut off her locks in a … Continue reading →

Do Your Kids Need a Manners Makeover?

One of my preschooler’s favorite animated shorts on Playhouse Disney is called “Can You Teach My Alligator Manners?” In it a little boy is challenged with the task of teaching his pet alligator Al how to behave properly. Young viewers help Mikey to instill good manners in his scaly sidekick by answering questions, such as: What should Al do when playing on a slide at the park? A. Shove the other kids off, so he can have a turn B. Sit at the bottom of the slide to prevent anyone else from going down C. Take turns My daughter loves … Continue reading →

How did I get here? My kids are officially teens!

I am new to the Parenthood blog, but not to families.com. I have been on the site for a couple of years now as the Homeschooling blogger. I now have the honor to write not only for homeschooling, but also parenting (specifically teens), the home blog, and also the frugal blog. In short, I will be writing a little over here, and a little over there! It’s not that I am stunned to be writing the parenthood blog. It’s that I am stunned that I have kids old enough for me to write about teen issues in the parenthood blog. … Continue reading →

Another Family Milestone—Mononucleosis

Well, we’ve been through chicken pox and braces and myriad other childhood rites of passage. There’ve been birthday parties (sleepovers and mixed-sex parties), school changes, friend changes, personality changes, and now—with one telephone call from the nurse, we can finally check the first case of teenage “mono” off the list of family milestones. Yep, instead of heading back to school after winter break—one of my teens is still in bed with a nasty case of what used to be called “the kissing disease.” With little energy to get from the bed to the kitchen (very, very unusual, indeed) she’s been … Continue reading →

Parents Help Cause Child Depression

In today’s society child depression rates are higher than ever before with one in eight adolescents suffering from depression. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among teens and the 6th among children. And recent research suggests that children from more affluent homes are three times more likely to be depressed than their poorer peers. One of the things that are pushing children and teens towards depression is their parents. At least that is according to research presented by psychologist Madeline Levine in her book The Price Of Privilege. Many children raised in middle-level or wealthy homes are pushed … Continue reading →

Warning Signs of Eating Disorders

The media constantly portrays the perfect woman as a slim and beautiful size 6, yet statistics show that the average woman is between sizes 11 and 14. As a result there is an increase in cases of eating disorders primarily among women. A survey completed by Exeter University in Great Britain reported that over half of the 37,500 teenage girls surveyed reported that their appearance was the biggest concern in their lives. They also found that 59% of girls who suffered from low self-esteem ages twelve to thirteen were dieting. Sadly about three percent of these girls will go to … Continue reading →