Blog Archives
One mom’s advice for helping kids develop good study habits – Omaha.com: Momaha.com
When your teen is a Freshman in high school, you nervously hope you’ve taught them well up until this point.
Thankfully, it seems my daughter has taken along a few good study habits – several of which I should probably take note of – and uses them daily.
Do your kids have any good study habits? Feel free to pass them along!
4 ways to help your teen transition into adulthood – Omaha.com: Amanda Smith
High school’s starting. Your teen is no longer the child he or she once was – here are some ways I am helping my children transition to adulthood. Do you have any other suggestions? I’d love to hear them.
Source: 4 ways to help your teen transition into adulthood – Omaha.com: Amanda Smith
4 ways to keep line of communication open during ‘teen crush’ period – Omaha.com: Amanda Smith
Teen crushes. Not something I’m ready for, but something I definitely need to get used to. How do you talk to your teen about crushing?
4 ways to keep line of communication open during ‘teen crush’ period – Omaha.com: Amanda Smith.
5 tips from local mom to get – and keep – teens active – Omaha.com: Momaha.com
Ever wonder how to get your kids to join you outside on the court, or in the gym? Well, if you are looking for some creative ways to do so, look no further.
Here’s a post I wrote for Momaha this week with some tried and true methods to get those teens active. While I fully accept that, as the parent, it’s my job to tighten the reins on the technology, sometimes that’s easier said than done.
Setting a good example is important and can make all the difference.
A fine line between being a teenager and being disrespectful
For the most part, I don’t have much of a problem with the latter, but as all parents find, from time to time, it does happen.
Take tonight, for example.
One child had decided going to school tomorrow just wasn’t a great idea. As the school year winds down, there is very little that actually occurs during the final days. Tomorrow, they are having a kick ball tournament, and while my younger, more athletically-inclined child, is ecstatic for the day’s events, the older one really couldn’t be bothered with it. So, there was attitude. And, a lot of it. So much so, that at one point it turned into full-fledged arguing, and then I was done.
The other child was at the pool, and though that really shouldn’t have created an issue, found a way to bring demanding to a whole new level. Upon realizing she’d forgotten all forms of currency on her nightstand, she called me up to promptly bring her some of it. Now, first of all, I wasn’t home; Tony and I had headed to the gym for a workout and, at the time she called, I was mid-iron-pump. I certainly wasn’t going to drop everything to bring her a buck or two. She inquired to Tony’s whereabouts, but quickly established that he too would be unavailable to her. Well, of course, that prompted, you guessed it, more attitude. By that point, I had heard enough. So, we wrapped up our gym session and I headed off to pick her up. She wasn’t thrilled with the early ending to her swim time.
Nor were either of them thrilled when they were both greeted with a firm conversation and a mild punishment. Some extra chores and relinquishing of the swim passes for the remainder of the week.
Sound harsh; that is, if you’re a teenager about to head into the throngs of summer, but they’ll live. It’s not often they are punished because, as my title suggests, I’m well aware that teens will be teens. They aren’t going to be happy all the time, and if they didn’t argue, well, they wouldn’t be teenagers. To a point, that is. There’s a point when arguing becomes disrespect, and that’s the time when I have to stop them in their tracks and help them reevaluate the path they’re about to travel down.
It’s a point all parents have to find, and one I wish I didn’t have to find as often as I do. And something tells me it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.
It's time to spread my wings and fly... 