by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Parenting Books, Rebellion, Self-Esteem
Fact: If you haven’t nurtured a loving, trusting relationship with your child, they won’t be open to your guidance. And they need a lot of guidance. During the first 20 years of life, they have a lot of growing up to do as they avoid the pitfalls of...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Behavior Change, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Parenting, Parenting Books, Self-Esteem, Strong for Parenting
Life is challenging, for kids as well as adults. It takes character strength to deal with these challenges, to do the right things, the hard things. Character strength comes from dozens of behavior patterns that people form throughout life. And these behavior patterns...
by Dennis Coates | Behavior Change, Inspiring Quotes, Parenting, Parenting Books, Self-Esteem, Uncategorized
Impatience can ruin a parent-child moment. But how can you strive to be more patient if you aren’t aware that you need to? Empathy is one of the keys to growing the bond with your child. But how can you exercise empathy more consistently if you don’t...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Behavior Change, Personal Strength, Self-Esteem, Teen Success
I remember an incident in which my two sons were playing together outside. One got mad at the other and it came to blows. In retrospect, I understand that a contributing factor was their underdeveloped ability to exercise empathy. That was then, over 40 years ago....
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Self-Esteem, Teen Culture
A classic conflict: a teenager who is discovering who they are and wanting to be popular is tempted to give in to peer pressure to do things that are ill-advised or even dangerous. It’s the kind of conflict that few teens know how to deal with. Have you tried...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Education, Health & Nutrition, Mentoring, Parenting Blogs, Self-Esteem, Teen Success, Work
True story: A young couple got married, and after the honeymoon the guy discovered his new wife didn’t know how to boil an egg. Yes, he should have known this about her. But as a former Boy Scout, he got to work to help her learn to cook. Also, the young...
