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Parents

Parents

Parents

Parents

Common Sense Media: Teen Social Media Use 2012-2018

The researchers at Common Sense Media deliver again: this time, with an in-depth look at social media use among adolescents. The report “Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences” examines answers to salient questions that adults – including parents, educators, mental health professionals, and public policy makers –  want to know about teen social media use. It’s a follow up on their 2012 report “Social Media, Social Life: How

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November 1, 2018

Five Things to Do If Your Kid Is Acting Like a Bully

What should you do if you find out from another parent or a school representative that your kid has been bullying other kids? First, accept the fact that it’s happening and engage the situation directly. Second, leave your emotions out of it. Look at bullying as a behavior that needs to be modified with the input of you, the school, possibly other parents, and your child. Freaking out (internally or

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October 30, 2018

Teen Halloween: Tricks or Treats?

Question: Should teenagers go trick-or-treating on Halloween, or are they too old for it? For most people in the U.S. the debate is open. The answer clearly depends on the teen, what their actual plans are, and the group of friends they’re planning to celebrate the holiday with. In the state of Virginia, though, there are several towns where the question is not up for debate: trick or treating for

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October 30, 2018

Another Parent Called the School About My Teen: What Should I Do?

You’re going to hear from your teenager’s school a lot during the middle and high school years. Some of the communication will be good news, some will be no-so-great news, and most of it will be pedestrian PTA-meeting type stuff. But sometimes you get that call. The one where you find out another parent called the school to complain about your teen’s behavior. No parent wants that call, but it

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October 28, 2018

Adolescent Overachievers: Stress, Perfectionism, and Mental Health

There’s a lot of pressure on teenagers these days. Pressure from parents, pressure from society, and pressure from peers. Parents pressure teens to get good grades, get into college, or find a vocation suitable to their natural skills and talents. Society pressures teens to work hard, get ahead, and more and more, do something amazing like invent a crafty app and become a tech gazillionaire and retire before thirty. Peers

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October 25, 2018

Halloween Costumes: Perpetuating Negative Stigma

While researching ideas for articles to share with you for Halloween, we came across something that hadn’t occurred to us: the fact that many Halloween costumes reinforce negative stigma attached to mental illness. An article in Psychology Today points out that some of the most respected and widely-read news outlets in the nation, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, have run articles on this very topic. They’re

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October 24, 2018

Is My Kid the Bully? What Should I Do?

Every parent has a list of phone calls they don’t want to get from school. It’s a basic list. If you’re a parent, here are the top three things we know you don’t want to hear when the phone rings and your caller ID tells you it’s the school: Your child is sick or has had an accident. They’re being disruptive or having discipline problems. They’re having serious academic/learning issues.

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October 16, 2018

October 10th is World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day 2018: A Focus on Youth and Adolescents On October 10th, 1992, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the first annual World Mental Health Day. Their goal was twofold: to promote mental health advocacy and educate the general public on issues related to mental health. Advocacy and education remained the focus for the first three years. The event featured a global telecast from Tallahassee, Florida, and interactive

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October 9, 2018

Mental Health Support for Military Families

The Effect of War on Military Families The U.S. has been involved in two wars overseas for close to two decades. The men and women of our military have been in harm’s way in Afghanistan since 2001. They’ve been in Iraq since 2003. Despite troop drawdowns in the past few years in both countries, we still have soldiers stationed in both places. And recent events in Syria and Iraq seem

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October 8, 2018

If a Parent Thinks Their Teenager is Being Sexually Abused, How Can They Be Sure?

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: their child being abused. Sexually, emotionally, or physically, it doesn’t matter which – they’re all virtually unbearable to conceive. And that’s for us, the adults, thinking about it from the outside. We have life experience, we have perspective, and we have a fully developed prefrontal cortex that enables us to use reason, control our emotions, and process disturbing information and the associated emotions. We’re not

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October 2, 2018