by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Education, Parenting, Parenting Books, Self-Esteem, Teen Success, Work
How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success (Holt, 2015), by Julie Lythcott-Haims, is the best book ever written about the kind of overparenting that has produced the struggling young adults of the Millennial...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Parent-child Communication, Parenting Books, Teen Culture, Teen Success
I’ve posted before about the importance of critical thinking and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a young person to lay down a foundation of critical thinking skills in the developing prefrontal cortex – what I often refer to as “the smart...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Education, Mentoring, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Personal Strength, Programs, Strong for Parenting, Teen Success
In his classic parenting book, The Wonder of Boys, psychologist Michael Gurian claims that “three families – not one” are needed to raise a healthy child to be a happy, successful adult. The first family is the “nuclear family”—the parents and grandparents who raise...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Mentoring, Parenting, Parenting Books, Teen Success
During the first few months of life, parents show lots of colorful, noise-making objects to their infant. Slowly, the baby learns to pay attention. The child is doing the work to program the neural pathways for sight. During the first year of life, parents guide and...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Education, Inspiring Quotes, Parenting, Work
I often mention that teenagers have a “full plate.” The demands on their time can be stress-producing, even overwhelming. Part of the reason for this is that to arrive at adulthood, prepared for the challenges they’ll face, they have a lot to learn....
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Education, Encouragement, Parenting, Parenting Books, Teen Success
What will the next step be? College? A job? Technical training? A gap year? Missionary work? Military service? Marriage and a family? Every parent who has raised a teenager to this threshold is concerned that the child will be able to handle the challenges and...
