Parenting teenagers is sort of like raising a disobedient sloth while simultaneously trying to balance an egg on the tip of a pencil.  You need to tread carefully while still motivating, encouraging and sometimes kicking their butts into gear.  If you have not had the pleasure of parenting teenagers yet, I don't mean to scare you with the realities of this age group.  However, you should be prepared for the chaos that those teen years may bring.  Your toddler is a walk in the park compared to the stress of raising teens! One of the … [Read more...]

This post about Best Ways to Start a Family Discussion about Underage Drinking has been sponsored. I am participating in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Influence Central for Anheuser-Busch’s Family Talk About Drinking Program. I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation. #ABFamilyTalk So, lets say you have teenagers like I do and you are concerned about underage drinking. With high school graduation and prom season on the horizon, this is a major concern for many parents.   You decide you need to talk to your teens … [Read more...]

As my children move into high school and we start thinking more and more about college, I find myself worrying about raising a well rounded teenager.  Academics have never been a problem for my kids.  I am incredibly lucky that both my children were accepted into the gifted program early on in elementary school and good grades come fairly easily for them. So, what's the problem?  As my kids get older,  the schools are starting to push more and more challenging materials at them.  You think that's a good thing, right?  But the track they were … [Read more...]

I am pretty sure that my kids have the greatest dad of all time.  He was there to catch them the moment they were born, despite nearly passing out from the blood.  He disciplined them with loving kindness as they turned into unruly toddlers, only occasionally threatening to leave until the terrible two's passed.  And he spent many years attending PTA meetings and orientation days with me when they were in elementary school, despite the utter boredom over treasurer reports and curriculum standards.  My kids are lucky to have such an amazing … [Read more...]

I've never been known as a particularly flexible parent. I wasn't that mom that let her kids wear pajamas for three days because they were obsessed with Spiderman. They didn'tt go on week long binges of only eating things that are orange. They were not allowed to take all the cans out of my pantry and build their own personal house of cans on my kitchen floor. I'm just not built for that sort of flexibility. I've gotten a lot of grief for that over the years from various 'fly by the seat of their pants' friends. They didn't understand that my … [Read more...]

I am the proud parent of two teens and I can honestly say that I understand very little that comes out of their mouths lately.  The words I struggle to understand are not swear words.  They are pretty clean cut kids...profanity has never been much of a problem in our house.  But some days, it honestly seems like they are speaking a totally foreign language. I have become a big fan or Urban Dictionary lately to shed light on what he heck they are talking about.  If  understanding your teen has become difficult, I urge you to check it … [Read more...]