by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Critical Thinking, Drugs, Rebellion, Self-Esteem, Teen Culture, Teen Sex, Teen Success, Teen Suicide
Most of the 50 million parents of school-aged children in the U.S. are all too aware of the gauntlet of dangers that threaten when a child becomes an adolescent: under-age smoking and drinking; drug abuse and addiction; low self-esteem and peer pressure; self-harm and...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Alcohol, Drugs, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Teen Culture, Teen Suicide
When they’re little you read to them, hoping they’ll learn to love books and reading and learning. Before you know it they’re in school, beginning a learning journey that will teach them about the world. And in half a dozen years, puberty begins the...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Critical Thinking, Drugs, Peer Pressure, Rebellion, Self-Esteem, Strong for Parenting, Teen Culture
In this piece, I reference an interesting video. Even though you may find it shocking, watch it all the way through. Don’t click off just because you think it’s disgusting. The clips were recorded by the teens themselves. There are thousands of videos like...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Critical Thinking, Education, Health & Nutrition, Parenting, Personal Strength, Teen Culture, Teen Success, Work, Youth Athletics
Studying well in school is important. Those 12 years – and university – are important. But along the way, a young person needs to learn many non-academic skills and strengths that are vital for relationships and a career. While some of this can be acquired...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescent Brain, Alcohol, Drugs, Education, Parenting Books, Teen Culture, Teen Success
One crucial step in helping your adolescent child build a superior mind is to protect the prefrontal cortex (PFC) from damage during adolescence – the developmental period for wiring the foundation for critical thinking. To this end, I’ve written a number...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Parenting, Teen Culture, Teen Suicide
In 2014 a huge tornado devastated a small town in Oklahoma, killing 24 people. Stories and images of the destruction were all over the Internet, the newspapers and television news. The coverage reminded me of when in early June, 1966, I walked among the ruins in...
