The three-month period between Memorial Day and Labor Day – known in the Northern Hemisphere as summer – is beloved for many reasons. School’s out. It’s vacation time. The days are long. Twilight lasts for hours. For most teenagers, ideal summer day goes something like this: wake up late, go to the pool, forget to reapply sunscreen, come home tired, sunburnt, and hungry. Eat dinner, then go out back out
You’re probably on Facebook. You know about Instagram and Snapchat. You’re familiar with Whatsapp and Twitter. Maybe you even know about Finsta. But have you heard of Kik? Kik is the secret messaging app most parents don’t know about. For millions of teens in the U.S., it’s quickly gaining steam as a popular way to chat. Unfortunately, it’s also gaining notoriety at the same time. Adolescents like Kik because they
If you’re a teen, it’s normal to have days when you’re feeling down. The everyday stresses of school, parents, friends, social media, exams, extracurricular activities, and more—they’re real. They loom large. And they can occasionally cause you to break down crying, make you want to lock yourself in your room and sleep the day away, or plug in earphones and ignore everyone and everything. But while it’s normal to be
In 1949, the non-profit organization Mental Health America (MHA) held the first Mental Health Awareness Month, which is also called Mental Health Month. The goal of Mental Health Awareness Month (MHAM) is the same as the overall organizational goal of MHA: to raise awareness about the needs of people living with mental illness and promote the general mental health and well-being of all Americans. Before we discuss this year’s MHAM
Seventy years ago, the non-profit advocacy group Mental Health America (MHA) held the first Mental Health Awareness Month, also known as Mental Health Month. The goal of Mental Health Awareness Month (MHAM) is to raise awareness about the needs of people living with mental illness and promote the general mental health and well-being of all Americans. To learn more about Mental Health Awareness Month and the theme for this year
International Summer Programs for Teenagers International summer travel programs for teenagers have been around since the early 1960s. The first programs were organized by summer camps and private schools whose administrators realized that some of their students, particularly those between the ages of 14 and 17, were at a crossroads. They didn’t need a summer at camp, and they didn’t need a summer of classroom academics. They needed something completely
The Benefits of Summer Camp Summer is coming. Our cultural obsession with the phrase “Winter is Coming” has parents across the nation chuckling. Sure – we love Game of Thrones as much as anyone. And we fear the White Walkers as much as anyone: they’re scary. But for some parents, nothing strikes fear into their hearts like planning summer for a teenager. For them, summer is the real thing to
When the teenage years arrive, behavioral issues become far more difficult to manage than when your kids were younger. Things once black and white become confounding shades of gray. When a teenager experiences emotional distress, you can’t always fix it with a hug. When they display disturbing behavior, simple behavior management strategies – like taking away the cellphone, for instance – don’t always work. And when they begin to show
We recently posed an open question on our Facebook page: “Hey Parents of Teens! What Do You Want to Know? What topic would be the most helpful for you? If you’ve ever thought, I wish I had a guide to deal with this problem! Now is your chance to ask for that guide.” Members of our online community replied with their most pressing questions. One concerned parent asked: “When do
If you have a teen or loved one addicted to heroin or other opioids, you need to know what to do when they overdose. Um, excuse me? Why are we thinking about – let alone talking about – worst-case scenarios here? Of course, we are sure you’d prefer not to have your loved one be abusing drugs—or overdosing—in the first place. So, if you’re reading this and have a child
