by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Critical Thinking, Education, Guest Blog Posts, Parenting Videos, Podcasts, Teen Success
Even though I graduated from West Point, served 20 years in the U.S. Army, and retired as a lieutenant colonel, from age 16 I’ve always considered myself to be a writer. And since I co-founded what has become Grow Strong Leaders in 1987, I’ve published...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Critical Thinking, Education, Inspiring Quotes, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Programs, Teen Culture, Teen Success
Recently, a bizarre death was reported in most news outlets. A 14-year old boy fell in love with an AI image. This computer-generated image became so real to him that he saw her as a real person. Ultimately, he killed himself with his father’s pistol in order to...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Behavior Change, Encouragement, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Parenting Books, Personal Strength, Teen Success, Uncategorized
Being a parent means doing hard things on a regular basis. In other words, raising a child to be a happy, successful, independent adult will require you to engage many aspects of character strength. Likewise, to succeed in life as an adult, a child will also have to...
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 | Adolescent Brain, Critical Thinking, Education, Encouragement, Parenting, Parenting Books, Teen Success
I’ve been a Dad to over a dozen cats in my adult life. The cat in the photo is Cookie, one of the three cats in my family right now. All three display signs of intelligence. I see this in the way they make decisions. For example, at a certain time each...
by Dennis Coates | Adolescence, Parent-child Communication, Parenting, Parenting Books, Teen Success
At about the age of 12, plus or minus, a child’s body and brain are flooded with growth hormones to begin the physical development needed to become an adult. The growth period lasts about ten years. We call it adolescence. During this gradual transformation, the...
