by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Fitness, Health & Nutrition
What does it mean to be a parent? Every spring, a pair of swallows arrives at our front porch to update their nest and nurture offspring. A month or so later, their young leave the nest to learn the fine points of flying and finding food. This cycle sometimes repeats...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Education, Mentoring, Teen Success
As you may have noticed throughout your life, not every child grows up smart. In this brief article, some straight talk about adolescent brain development. Each area of a child’s growing brain has a sensitive window for development. For the kind of adult-level...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Education, Parent-child Communication, Personal Strength, Teen Sex
With a new documentary, the “Lorena Bobbitt story” is in the media again. Do you remember her – the woman who, almost 30 years ago, was raped by her husband; and then while he slept, she cut off his…with a kitchen knife and tossed it into a...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Inspiring Quotes, Parenting, Personal Strength, Teen Success, Work
In my book, How Your Teen Can Grow a Smarter Brain, I explain that adolescence is a sensitive time window for developing foundation thinking skills in the prefrontal cortex and how to maximize that development. Important insights, I assure you. But establishing the...
by Dennis Coates | Behavior Change, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Personal Strength, Programs, Teen Success
In my first draft of the above title, the word “Underprivileged” appeared before “Kids.” But the game I’m talking about is chess, which can help make any kid smarter, not just at-risk kids or kids from low-income families. That’s...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Critical Thinking, Drugs, Education, Fitness, Health & Nutrition, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Peer Pressure, Personal Strength, Rebellion, Self-Esteem, Teen Culture, Teen Sex, Teen Success
One of the underlying themes of my writing is that parents of teens need to be realistic. But being realistic doesn’t necessarily imply some kind of worst-case scenario. Because realistically, lots of really wonderful things can happen during adolescence. For...
