by Dennis Coates | 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 | 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...
by Dennis Coates | Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Parenting Blogs, Parenting Books, Parenting Videos, Programs, Self-Esteem, Strong for Parenting, Work
When I was a kid there were no parenting books, unless you want to count Dr. Benjamin Spock’s classic on baby and child care. Parents were guided by their instincts, sense of responsibility, judgment, and family traditions. Today, parents still rely on these,...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Education, Fitness, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Personal Strength, Self-Esteem, Work
Parenting Fundamentals 1-5 were presented in Part One. Here are 6-10: 6. Help your child build a strong work ethic. When I was 15 I mowed my aunt’s lawn with a borrowed motorless reel push mower in the middle of a Kansas summer. Whew! She was so impressed with...
by Dennis Coates | Education, Health & Nutrition, Parenting, Parenting Books, Self-Esteem, Teen Success, Work, Youth Athletics
I’ve been researching, studying, and writing about parenting for several years now, and the other day I was taken by surprise by something new. Adulting I had never heard the term before. I discovered that it’s used by young adults to mean learning to do things adults...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Alcohol, Drugs, Education, Encouragement, Parenting, Self-Esteem, Teen Culture, Teen Sex, Teen Suicide, Work
Why would a teenager do something as stupid as engaging in one of the teen challenges, such as binge-drinking, or swallowing a spoonful of cinnamon, or snorting a condom. Quite a few kids have ended up in the hospital and a few have died. Part of the answer is they...
