by Dennis Coates | Aug 9, 2021 | Adolescence, Behavior Change, Encouragement, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Rebellion, Strong for Parenting, Teen Success
Trying to conserve on electricity, you ask the family to turn off lights when leaving a room that they don’t plan to return to soon. But most of the time your son/daughter forgets to do this simple thing. You remind them and they agree to try harder. But when...
by Dennis Coates | Jul 19, 2021 | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Behavior Change, Critical Thinking, Parent-child Communication, Teen Success
Driving home, I saw a young man walking on the sidewalk. Shirtless in the midday sun, he sported a tanned, muscular body. He seemed oblivious to a future consequence: excessive exposure to solar radiation (sunlight) can cause skin cancer. The sight reminded me of a...
by Dennis Coates | Jun 25, 2021 | Adolescence, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Parenting Books, Strong for Parenting, Teen Success
Helping a young human being grow up to be a happy, successful, and independent adult has to be the hardest thing you can do. People are astoundingly complex; even kids are complex, growing more so year by year until they leave home. And yet, few parents have had the...
by Dennis Coates | May 17, 2021 | Adolescence, Education, Encouragement, Mentoring, Parent-child Communication, Parenting Books, Teen Success
What if you had great communication skills? Some parents do! But most don’t. When parents connect in ways that strengthen the bond with their child, kids are more open to parental guidance and wisdom. Most parents struggle with this. Learning powerful communication...
by Dennis Coates | Apr 19, 2021 | Adolescence, Behavior Change, Encouragement, Parent-child Communication, Parenting Books, Self-Esteem, Teen Success
Fifty years ago, I began my graduate work at Duke University. Although I was an Army captain, a graduate of West Point and the Army Ranger School, and a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, my main interest was literature. I was a published poet, I won First...
by Dennis Coates | Dec 11, 2020 | Adolescence, Critical Thinking, Education, Health & Nutrition, Parent-child Communication, Peer Pressure, Teen Culture, Teen Sex, Teen Suicide
As I write this, the Covid-19 coronavirus in the U.S. has been killing about 3,000 people every day. I know several people who have become infected. A member of my extended family died from the infection. This pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in our...
