by Dennis Coates | May 20, 2015 | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Critical Thinking, Drugs, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Teen Culture, Youth Athletics
Drinking alcohol with the expressed purpose of getting “messed up”? Believe it or not, this is an activity practiced mostly by kids. Watch this brief video… What can a parent do? 1. Get the book, How Your Teen Can Grow a Smarter Brain. Then read...
by Dennis Coates | May 19, 2015 | Adolescence, Parent-child Communication, Parenting Books, Rebellion, Teen Culture
A few years ago my wife and I were doing some recreational house-hunting. While viewing a beautiful home, she commented, “I like this house but we’d need to replace all the tile floors.” I thought the tile was nice. After mentally estimating the cost...
by Dennis Coates | May 15, 2015 | Adolescence, Behavior Change, Parent-child Communication
Father: “Hey, son. I thought I asked you to clean and put away the tools after you use them.” Son: “Oh. Right.” Father: “Well, the tools you used last night are still on the bench. Why didn’t you put them away?” Son: “I don’t know. I guess I forgot.” Father: “I told...
by Dennis Coates | May 15, 2015 | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Parenting
Most parents think of their child as “officially” an adolescent when they technically become a teenager on their 13th birthday. And they think their project of raising the child to adulthood is pretty much over after high school, when most of these young...
by Dennis Coates | May 13, 2015 | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Drugs, Teen Culture
A new study has concluded that teenagers who smoke pot suffer a significant drop in IQ that persists even if they stop smoking it later in life. The article doesn’t explain why, except for this statement by lead researcher Madeline Meier of Duke University:...
by Dennis Coates | May 12, 2015 | Adolescence, Education, Parent-child Communication, Parenting Videos, Teen Sex
For the past few years, I’ve been interviewing adults about their adolescent experiences. I always ask, “What did your parents tell you about sex?” Ninety-five percent of the time the answer is, “Nothing.” I remember the one and only time...
