1 in 5 Teens Are Hyper-texters

A study conducted by APHA found that 1 in 5 teens are hyper-texters, which means they text more than 120 times a day. Think about it, if each text takes 1 to 2 minutes of time, that is two to four full hours of time out of their day just texting. I think we can all agree that there are better things our teens can be doing with their time.

The study was conducted in 20 public high schools in the Cleveland area last year, and is based on confidential paper surveys of more than 4,200 students. And what is being reported around the net about this study that is considered shocking?!? It's that these hyper-texting teens are more apt to have had sex or used alcohol and drugs. Really? I don't find it shocking that teens who text for 2 to 4 hours a day may not have enough parental supervision to keep them off drugs and making smarter choices about sex. (If you are worried, learn how to talk to your teen about tough issues here.) Even the study's lead author, Dr Scott Frank associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said, "If parents are monitoring their kids' texting and social networking, they're probably monitoring other activities as well." That's it in a nutshell, isn't it?

Tips to Handle Teen Back Talk

Talk and Suggestions:

Back Talk My Parents! Not Me!!

WOW! Not in my younger days. That was not heard of in the Black Community. That was Taboo, you just didn't do it. Doing my younger years we were taught Manners and Respect at home, school and Church. Some of the White Children dare not do it neither. This generation today is out of control. Corporal punishment is frown apond. Some of these children need an "Old Fashion Butt Whipping". I would never tell my parents to Kiss My A-- and leave me the Fu-- alone. This I have heard in stores and the parent did just what the child said to do. Spent over $300.00 in clothing for this particular child. If I had said that to my mom or dad, I would have been hit in the mouth so fast I would never see it coming. Parent need to take back their role as the PARENT as act like a parent and not the "FRIEND"! If they start correcting the bad behavior, while the child is young and stay on top of it. Then there is a possibility Parent can correct this. I am 65 yrs old.

Sounds Great

I love Nicole and Chancellor's suggestions! These should be the first options, and privilege removal (like games) is a good option for when they refuse to talk to you. At the same time, it's important to respect their property ownership. Like, if an X box is given to them as a gift, you aren't allowed to take it. But you do pay the electric bill so you could shut off the power to his room.

Discern

I too, struggle with the back talking my teens will engage in rather harshly. Most of the time, I repeat what they are trying to say in a calm polite way, completely disregarding their "tone". Usually, I ask them if they agree with me that what I said (in a courteous manner) is exactly what they meant. I then say, I'm just making sure with a smile on my face. It is important to them that we, as parents, can help them communicate, respectfully without judging them in any negative way.

Working Together For Better Health

Parents and caregivers have the sole responsibility to introduce healthy food choices to young children. Children learn from the meals you offer, the way you serve food, the way you shop, and the examples you set. They develop habits early that, once learned, can last a lifetime, so it's never too early to make a change. It's important to take every opportunity to promote a healthy active lifestyle. Try these ten creative ways to get young children to eat healthier.

1. Prepare Healthy Meals Together

Engaging children in the preparation of kid-friendly healthy dishes is so fun and so very messy, but children are more likely to eat something that they have helped to prepare. So, bring out those bowls, spoons and cups. While kids are helping, it is a good time to introduce portions, simple fractions and units of measure.

When you are finished preparing, show children how to set the table. Don't forget to dine together. Children who eat meals with their families tend to have better diets, not just because meals are planned, but because of the positive examples that are set at the table.

2. Get Creative

Make silly food faces out of fresh fruit and vegetable slices, and come up with amusing, silly names for the healthy foods you prepare. Celery and raisins become "ants on a log," peanut butter and pretzels can be "mud on a stick," and spaghetti with tomato sauce can turn into "wiggly worms."

The golden word is "distraction." The apple wedge is a boat, and their mouth is a river. Peas are a food made out of green. You can become a consummate actor or a verbal Picasso to get them to taste something new.

3. Pack Snacks Together

Children can also benefit from packing snacks for the day, or packing for a picnic. When planning a long-term getaway, encourage them to help with bagging individual portions of fruits, chilled veggies, cheese sticks, crackers, trail mix, water, 100% juice boxes, and other good choices. These are the images they will carry with them throughout their day.

4. Take Children Shopping

Young kids love to play grown-up. On a real excursion to the grocery store, allow the children to pick a new fruit or vegetable to try at home. Let them weigh their choice, bag it, and put it on the conveyor belt. Once home, let them help you present it to the family. Try to avoid flying through each aisle like a secret agent on a mission. Slow down and turn shopping into a learning experience.

5. Plan a Family Taste Test

Slice a variety of apples such as, Fuji, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and McIntosh. Set out a variety of breads such as Sourdough, Rye, Potato, Whole Wheat, Pita, and Tortilla. After each taste test, compare the various textures and characteristics while you talk about your favorites. A great time to do this without spending a great deal of money is during dinner at a buffet.

6. Show Kids How to Grow Food

Many local growers are happy to share the farming experience with young children if you call ahead of time. Take a trip to your local farmer's market where you will often find fun activities for kids. Children are more likely to eat fruit or vegetables that they have grown and picked themselves. Use a planter, or assign a small piece of your yard to start your own private garden. You can begin with tomatoes and build from there.

7. Sing and Dance to Good Food Songs

Find songs with lyrics that promote healthy eating and an active lifestyle. If you can't find music in your local retail store, there are some great offerings available for young children online. Music CDs like Smart & Tasty, Bon Appetite, Groovin' Foods, or Smart Fruit & Veggie Songs, can be found with a simple internet search. Be prepared to pass the potato, count the bananas, scissor kick your celery sticks, interact with your children, have fun, and basically act like a fool. If you don't have access to music, make up silly, rhyming rhythmic chants about new foods.

8. Explore Healthy Foods Through Books

Find coloring books or read books that introduce fruits and vegetables as characters, or have interesting stories that revolve around healthy foods. Books such as I Will Not Ever Eat a Tomato, Counting Pumpkins, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Food for Thought, and Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z make for some great fun and educational reading. A quick and easy resource for nutrition and health education books for children is found at NeatSolutions.

9. Plan a Craft Activity

Let your child design something artistic such as a paper craft that can be proudly displayed on the refrigerator, pasta art on a plate, or a personalized placemat that can be laminated for repeated use. Some web pages offer free downloadable or printable activities that engage children. Search for your favorites or visit 5aday, Dole, and Nutrition Explorations for some interesting offerings.

10. Play Fun Games That Involve Healthy Eating

Children who have fun with healthy foods are more likely to want to taste them. Instead of "Duck, Duck, Goose," play "Grape, Grape, Juice." Play target practice by tossing play foods into grocery paper bags. Let your children select from their play food and serve you a nutritious meal.

Play verbal "I spy a color" games and board games that promote healthy eating and educate young children about good food choices. The Produce for Better Health Foundation offers "The Fruit and Veggie Race" board game for all ages.

Empower your young children to be agents of change in and away from home. They will not only eat better, they will inspire others to do the same.

Share Why You Believe in Drug and Alcohol Prevention

“Drug and alcohol prevention is important to me because I, my family, and many friends have been deeply affected by the use of drugs and alcohol. It has ruined people’s lives and many people I know have lost their lives to the battle of addiction. This world would be a much safer and happier place if people could somehow find what they needed in something else (other than drugs and alcohol).” – Facebook Fan of The Partnership at Drugfree.org

We talk to so many committed parents and caregivers who care about this issue and want to get involved. So, we’re diving into the world of social media to help raise awareness in new ways and highlighting campaigns we’ve launched for web-savvy parents and teens.

Our Facebook Photo Campaign:

Help us share reasons why Prevention of Drug & Alcohol Abuse Is Important to You! Take a photo with your answer on this PDF and post it to our Facebook page. Don’t forget to tag yourself and spread the word!

The Personal TWIBBON Campaign:

Help The Partnership at Drugfree.org by wearing your own virtual ribbon. Add our Twibbon sticker to your facebook page or tweet your support.

And STAY TUNED…

Sexting:Teens Putting Sex and Texting Together

Sexting is:

Sexting is creating pictures or videos of sexual acts or nudity and texting it over cell phones. One resource I read called it 'the intersection of promiscuity and technology.' This is happening with and without a teen’s permission. A survey released in December by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said about a third of teenage boys and a quarter of teen girls say they've seen nude or semi-nude images that were meant originally to be private.

Sexting is a crime, but:

At this point, authorities are trying to figure out what crime to charge teens with when caught up in a sexting situation. The crime itself, if committed by an adult, would be child pornography. That is a federal offense that doesn’t really cover the issue here.

Police Man Arrested Teens For Having Sex

The police man arrested the teens for having sex.

The police man is very strict and he is using strict words.

A police officer has been suspended for staging a fake arrest of a 15-year-old boy after discovering the teenager was having sex with his stepdaughter.

Keeping the Kids Safe This Halloween

Halloween, while the absolutely favorite holiday for many fathers and children, is fraught with risk for kids. Dark streets, costumes with limited visibility, and children who have fun terrorizing smaller ones, are all part of the Halloween experience. Here are several short articles with information for fathers about keeping their children safe on Halloween.

Keeping Kids Safe at Halloween Parties:
Older children often want to attend Halloween parties with their friends. What can a dad do to help make sure his kids are safe when they attend a Halloween party away from home?
Trick or Treating Safety:
The younger kids loves to dress up and head out to trick or treat in the neighborhood, at a local shopping mall or just out and about. But trick or treating, while really fun, has some inherent risks. Find out what a father needs to know and do to make trick or treating a safer experience.
Halloween Safety at Home:
Halloween decorations and activities can sometimes be unsafe if not handled properly at home. Check out our tips for Halloween safety right at home.

Methods To Reduce Your Teens TV Time

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., today's youth in America spend 900 hours per year in a classroom but 1500 hours per year watching television. Also, according to William H. Deitz, prominent obesity expert at Tufts University School of Medicine, the easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set. Almost anything else uses more energy than watching TV.

Things to Do With or For Your Teen:

When you get rushed with things to do throughout the year, it’s your relationship with your children that suffers. Even when you take notice to the fact that you are over scheduled, it tends to be your teen’s need for your attention that is placed on the back burner.

At these times our teenagers are only likely to get attention by acting out- not good. This happens normally because teens become so capable of handling their own basic daily needs that we don’t notice we've stopped paying positive attention to them.

Here is a list that will help you remember and give you ideas of positive things to do with or for your teen. Enjoy!

1. Talk to your teen about his day.

2. Volunteer together.

3. Make your teen his favorite dinner.(Pizza in my home.)

4. Solve a problem by giving your teen the choice.

5. Root for your teen. Whether it’s a sports game or a big test, let your teen know you are on his side.

6. Take a glimpse into the future. What does your teen see? What do you see?

7. Talk to your teen about sex.

8. Talk to your teen about drugs.

9. Cook a meal together.

10. Write your teen a love note - it will perk up his self-esteem.

11. Develop a new healthy habit together.

12. Rearrange your teen’s room. (You may need to clean it first – warn him.)

13. Challenge your teen to a yearlong game marathon.

14. Plan the family vacation together.

15. Make your teen his favorite lunch.

16. Make your teen a hot breakfast before school.

17. Go for a walk or a hike.

18. Take a class together.

19. Hug him.

20. Buy a sponsorship in the yearbook and write something sweet.

21. Build or add to a family website together.

22. Plan a birthday party.

23. Watch a movie.

24. Do a puzzle and frame it.

25. Plant a garden in the backyard or a potted indoor garden.

26. Stay in your pajamas all day. (Perfect activity for a snow day.)

27. Have a movie marathon.

28. Have a picnic.

29. Go to a local historic museum.

30. Make your own t-shirts or sweatshirts.

31. Scrapbook or journal a day in your teen’s life.

32. Stargaze together.

33. Find shapes in the clouds together.

34. Go to the zoo.

35. Serve at a soup kitchen.

36. Make a time capsule.

37. Go bowling.

38. Go to a professional sports event or concert.

39. Make a video.

40. Make a pillow or quilt out of your old T-shirts and blankets.

41. Have a campfire and roast marshmallows.

42. Have a garage sale.

43. Write a letter to a grandparent about something wonderful your teen did.

44. Bake cookies.

45. Make the best ice cream sandwich ever.

46. Talk to your teen about college.

47. Talk to your teen about serving his country.

48. Order out at your teen’s favorite fast food joint.

49. Spend a day at the beach or a lake.

50. Read one of your teenager’s current magazines.

Teens and Depression

Teenage depression isn’t just bad moods and occasional melancholy.

 Depression is a serious problem that impacts every aspect of a teen’s life. Left untreated, teen depression can lead to problems at home and school, drug abuse, self-loathing—even irreversible tragedy such as homicidal violence or suicide.

Fortunately, teenage depression can be treated, and as a concerned parent, teacher, or friend, there are many things you can do to help.

 You can start by learning the symptoms of depression and expressing concern when you spot warning signs.

 Talking about the problem and offering support can go a long way toward getting your teenager back on track.

Teach the +ve Values to Your Teens

We seem to be too worried about 'the rules' and enforcing them, that as parents we aren't looking at the big picture of our children's lives. It's in the big picture where positive values and morals are seen. It's not whether your teen got an 'A' on his science project, it's if he values what an education is going to do for him. Which is a catch-22, because if he values the education, he'll strive for the 'A'. Learn why it's important to teach values with this article.

Comments:

We seem to be too worried about 'the rules' and enforcing them, that as parents we aren't looking at the big picture of our children's lives. It's in the big picture where positive values and morals are seen. It's not whether your teen got an 'A' on his science project, it's if he values what an education is going to do for him. Which is a catch-22, because if he values the education, he'll strive for the 'A'. Learn why it's important to teach values with this article.