It’s not just girls, boys want to keep up with the latest trends too. We can use lessons from the workplace to help teens with homework. A new study found a link between degrading lyrics and teen sex. Teen obesity is just as deadly as teen smoking. R-rated movies are prompting teens to smoke. Today’s teens are volunteering, even more than working part-time. Teenagers addicted to the internet may have more aggressive behavior than teens without the addiction. Teens and young adults are concerned about finances and expect to cut back on items like electronics and snacks. Need some tips to help your high school student overcome an eating disorder? Kids are giving up social networking sites for Lent. In the U.S. young people from 15-... [Read more]

I don’t want to go in to a lot of detail in such a public forum, but earlier this week my stepson’s aunt was arrested. Thankfully nobody was physically hurt, but since we live in a fairly small community her arrest did make the front page of the local paper and was on the local news. So it’s not something we can easily ignore. My first thought was to keep it to ourselves. We don’t subscribe to the paper (we just read it online) and, like many 16-year-old boys, my stepson rarely watches the news (unless it’s a required assignment for school). Plus his aunt has a different last name then we do so most people won’t make the connection. And I also kind of hoped his mom would talk to him about it since it’s... [Read more]

We live in a society obsessed with being thin. We see airbrushed models in advertising, unbelievably thin actresses in Hollywood, and even the dolls our kids play with are unrealistically skinny. We trash talk celebrities who have put on a measly ten pounds. We obsess about our bodies. And we pass these ideas on to our children. On the flip side, we eat. And we eat a lot. We eat out at places that serve grease and fat with a side of food. We eat huge portions. We eat fattening foods. We eat for comfort. And we pass these habits on to our children. These are things that can push a teenager in to an eating disorder. As parents, what can we do to help prevent eating disorders. Never criticize your child for his/her weight. No kid wants to hear... [Read more]

From February 22nd through the 28th it is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Eating disorders are not a choice. It’s an illness. And we need to educate people about what causes an eating disorder, how to prevent eating disorders, how to save those that are suffering, and reduce the stigma surround eating disorders. The National Eating Disorder Association has some pretty shocking statistics: Around 10 million women and 1 million men suffer from an eating disorder and millions more struggle with binge eating. 80% of American woman don’t like their appearance. 42% of 1st thru 3rd graders wish they were thinner. Over half of teenage girls and almost a third of teenage boys have tried unhealthy ways to stay think, including fasting,... [Read more]

Did you catch Ford’s DigiKnows video this afternoon? As I stated yesterday, they discussed the new MyKey which will allow parents to control some features in the car when teens are driving. Don’t fret if you missed the live video. I took notes. The MyKey will be standard on half of Ford’s cars in 2010, starting with the Ford Focus. The other half of their cars will be equipped with the MyKey by 2011. Unfortunately you cannot add a MyKey to an existing car. The brains behind the MyKey is actually the software installed in the vehicle. Not in the key. So only new cars will have this new technology. You can have up to 4 keys. All of the keys look the same so a teen doesn’t have to be embarrassed by some special key that... [Read more]