Category Archives: Parents

Parenting is a very special job. Find great tips here on how to make your job easier – or at least take comfort in knowing that others are going through the same thing!

Social Issues That Trouble Today’s Teens

Social issues are problems that affect large groups of people and can affect how well a society functions, Verywell Family reported. Teens can face social problems just like adults can. They may even be more susceptible to these challenges because their brains are still developing and their bodies are changing quickly. Social issues and what we might think of a “teenage problems” can affect emotional and physical health. Depression According to the National Instituted of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 4.1 million adolescents in the United States had at least one major depressive episode in 2020. That means 17% of … Continue reading →

81% Of Adults Favor Parental Consent For Minors To Use Social Media

More than 40 states and the District of Columbia are suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging its platforms purposefully use addictive features that harm children’s mental health, Pew Research Center reported. Amid this news, U.S. adults and teens are more likely to support than oppose requiring parental consent for monitors to create a social media account and requiring people to verify their age before using these platforms, according to a pair of new Pew Research Center surveys. But adults are far more supportive than teens of these measures, as well as limiting how much time minors … Continue reading →

Study: Parents Can Significantly Influence Child’s Mental Health

Parenting styles that included physical discipline and overcontrolling behavior, referred to as “hostile” parenting, were found to nearly double the risk for their children to develop mental health symptoms, according to a new study, ABC News  reported. The study was published in the medical journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, followed over 7,500 children in Ireland from 9 months old until they were up to 9 years old.  Children who were exposed to hostile parenting at age 3 were 1 1/2 times more likely to have high-risk mental health symptoms and 1.6 times more likely to have mild-risk mental health symptoms … Continue reading →

Why People Make New Year’s Resolutions

The custom of making a New Year’s resolution goes back farther than you might think! According to History.com, the ancient Babylonians are said to be the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year, which, for them, began in mid-March when the crops were planted. There was a 12-day festival known as Akitu, when the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects … Continue reading →

Children 6 Months And Up Can Get COVID Vaccine

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents check with their pediatrician and community health care providers about how to get their children vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended two COVID-19 vaccines: one for children ages 6 months to 4 years, and one for ages 6 months to 5 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports this recommendation and encourage pediatricians to promote vaccination and give COVID-19 vaccines. Authorization of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for children ages 6 months and older … Continue reading →

CDC Has Positive Parenting Tips for Parents of Teenagers

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their positive parenting tips. There are several different categories that parents can read – depending upon the age of their children. Here are the recommendations for parents of teenagers between ages 15-17. According to the CDC, this is a time of changes for how teenagers think, feel, and interact with others, and how their bodies grow. Most girls will be physically mature by now, and most will have completed puberty. Boys might still be maturing physically during this time.  Your teen might have concerns about their body size, shape or weight. … Continue reading →

How to Support Your Transgender Child

Your child insists that they are not the gender they were assigned at birth. Parents need to learn how to support their transgender child. This is especially important if you live in a state that has created laws that are intended to cause harm to transgender kids and teens. Time to Learn Mayo Clinic explains that gender identity is a person’s sex that was assigned at birth. It is the internal sense of being male, female, neither, or both. Gender expression and sexual orientation are separate things.  According to Mayo Clinic, if your child is persistent about gender identity feelings, … Continue reading →

Are You A Snowplow Parent?

There are many different kinds of parenting styles to choose from. Some of them are very beneficial both to the children and the parents. Others are disadvantageous to not only the children, but also to their parents. Among the worst is the “snowplow parent”. Actual snow is not required for a parent to choose this parenting style. Emma Waverman, writing for Today’s Parent defined a snowplow parent as “a person who constantly forces obstacles out of their kids’ paths. They have their eye on the future success of their child, and anyone or anything that stands in their way has … Continue reading →

Saint Joseph Parenting Center Offers Classes

There are times when every parent could use a little help. Saint Joseph Parenting Center offers three different types of parenting classes. Their vision is that all children live in a world free of child abuse and neglect. Their mission is to strengthen families that are at risk of child abuse and neglect by providing parenting education and support. Saint Joseph Parenting Center describes their values this way: “We equip parents with the education, tools and resources to change unhealthy parenting patterns and to foster healthy ones in an effort to decrease the incidence of child abuse and neglect.  “We … Continue reading →

Gentle Parenting Offers Empathy

Think back for a moment about how you were raised. Did you parents threaten punishments (perhaps including physical violence)? Did they offer you rewards for doing your chores? There’s a new, more emphatic way, to parent called gentle parenting. It offers parents and children a way of partnering together to connect and solve problems.  What is gentle parenting? The Conversation reported that gentle parenting throws out the old ways of disciplining children. Gentle parenting encourages a child to internalize good behavior for its own sake.  Here are a few examples from The Conversation about what gentle parenting looks like: Start … Continue reading →