by Dennis Coates | May 16, 2019 | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Parent-child Communication, Peer Pressure, Teen Culture, Teen Suicide
Imagine this scenario… A well-rounded, accomplished teen boy raised in a wholesome, supportive family is asked by a girl he believes is romantically interested in him, a stranger he met online, to send her erotic photos of himself. The reasoning part of his...
by Dennis Coates | Jan 25, 2019 | Adolescent Brain, Health & Nutrition, Peer Pressure, Teen Culture
Recently I stood gazing out a street-facing window of a restaurant. A couple sat at an outdoor table on the sidewalk. Both were busy interacting with their smartphones. Across the street, a man stood next to his car, doing something with his smartphone. A young woman...
by Dennis Coates | Mar 8, 2018 | 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...
by Dennis Coates | Jan 24, 2018 | Adolescence, Health & Nutrition, Parenting, Peer Pressure, Teen Culture
“Every year, teens are asked about their general happiness, in addition to how they spend their time. We found that teens who spent more time seeing their friends in person, exercising, playing sports, attending religious services, reading or even doing homework...
by Dennis Coates | Sep 18, 2017 | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Critical Thinking, Drugs, Fitness, Health & Nutrition, Parent-child Communication, Peer Pressure, Self-Esteem, Teen Culture, Teen Sex, Work, Youth Athletics
What is self-esteem, anyway? Why is it important to a growing child? Why does it turn out to be a tough issue? What can parents do to nurture stronger self-esteem? Physically, I was a late-bloomer. When I was a freshman in high school, I was the shortest boy in my...
by Dennis Coates | Aug 31, 2017 | Adolescence, Education, Parent-child Communication, Peer Pressure, Self-Esteem, Teen Culture
How much wisdom did you have when you were 13? What did you know? More to the point, what insights about life – which could have helped you a lot back then – wouldn’t come until much later? I was always considered the smartest kid in my class. I took...
