Archive for 'Tweens & Teens' Category
Tweens & Teens: Losing my religion
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, is of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” ~ C. S. Lewis Welcome to the January 2012 edition of Tweens & Teens. I tell you what, readers of this column don’t hold back with their questions and Gwen and Shannon [...]
Tweens & Teens: Uncomfortable conversations
“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.” ~ Brian Tracy Welcome to the September edition of Tweens & Teens. Recently, the following question was posed to me, so I’m using this month’s article to address it. Here’s the [...]
Tweens & Teens: Having “the talk,” even though it scares you to death
Note from the mamas: We’re re-posting this Tweens & Teens because it’s such an important topic that parents often dread and avoid, for obvious reasons. It originally posted in November of last year, and it got several comments from local moms. If you missed reading it the first time, we hope it offers some insight [...]
Teens & Tweens: Texting and Driving
Tweeting, blogging, texting. Remember when we just talked to each other? Author Unknown Welcome to the May edition of Teens and Tweens. Before we go further, I’m going to admit something: I have texted while driving, not just once, but on numerous occasions. But now it’s over. I’ve done some research into the topic for [...]
Tweens & Teens: Picking your battles
“Pick battles big enough to matter but small enough to win” ~ Jonathan Kozol The question of picking your battles is really answered in the first part of this sentence with the word “picking”. That is to say, “You have a choice with all your battles.” Rules, however, are different. When parents make “rules”, they [...]
Tweens & Teens: What you need to know about ADHD
“I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.” — Steven Wright Hello all and welcome to the February edition of Tweens & Teens. ADHD is a hot topic these days, but, in my professional opinion, the disorder is over diagnosed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very real concern for many people, but [...]
Tweens & Teens: Friendships and hardships
“Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” ~ Albert Camus Hello all and welcome to the January edition of…drum roll, please, Teens and Tweens! I had a question posed to me not too long ago and [...]
Tweens & Teens: Having “the sex talk”
Anybody who believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach flunked geography. ~Robert Byrne Welcome to the March edition of Tweens and Teens. For this month, I’ve been asked to write about when to talk to your Teens and Tweens about sex. I don’t know who requested this from Gwen and [...]
Tweens & Teens: Trick or Treatment
“We can never solve a significant problem from the same level of thinking we were at when we created the problem” ~ Albert Einstein Welcome to the Halloween edition of Tweens and Teens. I’ve been asked to talk about drug experimentation from your Tweens and Teens…a very scary topic, indeed. Let’s start off with a [...]
Tweens & Teens: Life After Children
“Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, there’s no place like home.” ~ Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz Hello all and welcome to the September edition of Tweens & Teens. This month I’ll discuss how your life changes after having children and how those [...]
Tweens & Teens: Teaching responsibility
If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, then you need to put some responsibility on their shoulders ~ Abigail Van Buren (a.k.a. Dear Abby) Hello all and welcome to the August edition of Tweens and Teens. Gwen and Shannon asked me to respond to the recent attention drawn to Robert Rausch, [...]
Tweens & Teens: The back-to-school clothes dilemma
Welcome back to another edition of Tweens & Teens. I hope everyone is having a great summer, and it’s so very hard to believe that school is right around the corner. That means SHOPPING for school clothes…which leads right into this month’s article: How we dress our tweens and teens so they can go back [...]
Tweens and Teens: “To Spank or Not to Spank…”
“Contrary to what you have read in popular literature, [spanking], a firm but loving approach to child rearing, will not harm a toddler or make him violent. [Instead], it is most likely to produce a healthy, confident child.” ~ Dr. James Dobson Welcome to the June edition of Tweens & Teens. I can’t believe it’s [...]
Tweens & Teens: What teens fear most
“Like all parents, my husband and I just do the best we can, hold our breath, and hope we’ve set aside enough money for our kid’s therapy.” ~ Michelle Pfeiffer By Dr. Billy Jones, child psychologist for Mercy Health of Northwest Arkansas Welcome to the May edition of Tweens & Teens. I took a month [...]
Tweens & Teens: A Special Story
Suffering is part of the human condition and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to Him in trust and confidence. ~ Billy Graham Most often, this blog discusses issues facing parents with Tweens and Teens; however, [...]
Tweens & Teens: Love is in the air
“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.” ~ Winnie the Pooh Hello all and welcome to another edition of Tweens and Teens! Hopefully you’ve been following along each month, but if not, then welcome here. Also, please let [...]
Tweens & Teens: Texting 101
By Dr. Billy Jones, father and child psychologist with Mercy Health System According to a 2007 research study, 82% of Americans own a cell phone. This amounts to about 250 million people. Of those 250 million, guess how many are children and teenagers. …Okay, I’ll tell you: Ages 6-9 years = 22%; ages 10-14 years [...]
Tweens & Teens: Dealing with the drama
Back by popular demand, the Tweens & Teens doctor is in! Motherlode’s newest monthly feature is designed to help moms navigate through the tween and teen years. Dr. Billy Jones, a child psychologist with Mercy Health System in Rogers, is our resident expert and go-to guy for answers moms need to know. We all know [...]
Tweens & Teens: Need-to-know info for moms
Note from the Motherlode moms: We’re so excited about the launch of this new feature devoted to helping moms understand and help our kids (and ourselves) through the “tween” and teenage years. This is such a critical time in our kids’ development, and it’s important for moms to be up-to-date about what’s really going on [...]