by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Drugs, Parent-child Communication, Peer Pressure, Self-Esteem, Strong for Parenting
A teenager made a dumb mistake and damaged a tool. His father, angry, shouted at him about carelessness and irresponsibility. No love, understanding or respect was communicated in the heated interchange. The boy felt like a failure and resented his father for putting...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Parent-child Communication, Parenting Books
It’s a “race against time” because your child has only one chance to exercise critical thinking repeatedly or the basic foundation wiring for intellect won’t happen. Time will run out at the end of adolescence and your child will have to live...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Parenting, Parenting Books
IF (1) you have an adolescent child or one who is soon to reach puberty, and (2) you’re a conscious parent who is looking for wisdom and guidance to avoid the potential crises of adolescence while preparing your child to be a happy, successful adult, then...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Personal Strength, Teen Success, Work
I’m recalling a moderately adverse experience that started with a phone call. My wife was about to return home from a shopping excursion at a mall about 30 miles away when her car wouldn’t start. She asked me to drive to the mall to give her a jump-start...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Behavior Change, Critical Thinking, Parent-child Communication, Parenting
Kids can learn a lot from experience. But that doesn’t mean they will, just because something happened to them. Most of the time young people go from one life event to another without learning a thing. The same thing is true of adults! What makes the difference?...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Parenting, Teen Culture, Teen Suicide
In 2014 a huge tornado devastated a small town in Oklahoma, killing 24 people. Stories and images of the destruction were all over the Internet, the newspapers and television news. The coverage reminded me of when in early June, 1966, I walked among the ruins in...
