by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Critical Thinking, Drugs, Parenting, Parenting Books, Personal Strength, Teen Culture, Teen Success, Uncategorized
I recently had breakfast with some friends who have a graduating high school senior. He’s a great kid who wants to be a speech therapist and has been accepted into the right university for that training. Also, I pointed out that in addition to this wonderful...
by Dennis Coates | Behavior Change, Encouragement, Inspiring Quotes, Parenting, Parenting Books, Strong for Parenting, Teen Culture
Caring parents who consider the advice of experts are on a journey to “get better” at raising well-adjusted adults who succeed in life and work. But it’s not easy. It’s not supposed to be easy. The culture is working against you – the...
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 | Adolescence, Parent-child Communication, Parenting
Should you give advice? The answer is the same whether you’re relating to another adult or to a teenager. One of my friends has an interesting idiosyncrasy. Whenever we talk, his way of interacting with me is to give me advice. I think he does this because...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Health & Nutrition, Parenting, Teen Culture, Teen Success
In my posts, “Video Game Addiction and Brain Damage” and “Teen Smartphones and Social Networking – Buyer Beware” I described potential threats to normal teen brain development. If you read these articles, you know there are serious...
by Dennis Coates | Behavior Change, Encouragement, Parenting, Teen Success
My wife and I share a lot in common, but in one interesting way, we are quite different. She drinks a lot of water every day. Wherever she goes, she carries a bottle of filtered water. She’s always hydrated. I, on the other hand, rarely drink water. I’ve...
