Tag: "teenagers"

Teenage Sex: A Family Affair?
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Teenage Sex: A Family Affair?

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According to research published by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, our teens may have more wisdom than we give them credit for when it comes to sex education. Most teens (94 percent) think that adults should inform them that they ought to wait to have sex at least until they get out of […]

Teens and Dating
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Teens and Dating

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It may come as a surprise to many, but dating is a relatively recent phenomenon. So says Jason E. King, author of Dating: A Practical Catholic Guide, published by the Knights of Columbus Catholic Information Service. Prior to our modern conception of dating, which arose in the 20th century, says King, a family was much […]

Essential Parenting
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Essential Parenting

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Model and support a life of religious faith and practice.

Helping Our Children Discern Their Vocations
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Helping Our Children Discern Their Vocations

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When I grow up, I’m going to be a priest and a policeman.” “I want to be a nun who rides horses and sings. Can a nun have babies?” “Mummy, when I grow up I’m going to marry you.” I smile as I remember these statements made by some of my children when they were […]

Oh No, He’s Discovered the Opposite Sex!
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Oh No, He’s Discovered the Opposite Sex!

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As soon as the men of the world perceive that you seek the devout life, they will launch forth all their raillery and slander against you; the most ill-natured will pronounce your altered ways to be hypocrisy, affection, or bigotry; they will assert that the world having slighted you, rejected by it, you turn to […]

Summer Offers Chances to Learn Independence
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Summer Offers Chances to Learn Independence

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What’s the right age to let children ride their bikes to friend’s houses? Isn’t it just safer to drive them? Should I worry about what other parents might think? Riding a bicycle used to be the standard mode of kid transportation, especially in the summer. I recall hopping on my bike on golden summer mornings […]

Children Need Not See Parental Conflicts
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Children Need Not See Parental Conflicts

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From: Always the Bad Guy? My husband thinks it’s OK for our 12-year-old to get a Facebook page. I say absolutely not. She has heard us arguing about this issue and tries to jump into the conversation. Next thing I know, it’s me against them, which feels very unhealthy. I think we should present a unified front […]

Some Parents Don't Always Know Best
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Some Parents Don’t Always Know Best

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To: Marybeth From: Not Crazy About Carpools This question might be filed under, “What are these people thinking?” My high school freshman got a ride home from a recent sporting event from a teammate’s parent. The conversation in the car turned to a high school party that took place a couple of weeks ago where […]

Plan B and Your Fifteen Year Old
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Plan B and Your Fifteen Year Old

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A few days ago the FDA announced its decision to lower the age for access to over-the-counter emergency birth control from 17 to 15. It used to be that if minors needed speed-dial abortions they would have to see a doctor for a prescription. Since most minors can’t get to the doctor without a parent being […]

Teenagers and Violent Video Games
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Teenagers and Violent Video Games

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To: Marybeth From: Nonviolent Video Mom My son wants to play the same video games his friends play, but I’m concerned they are violent. He’s 15 and says I’m too strict about this issue; he’s not going to become a deranged killer by playing war games. Are violent video games really a problem? To: Nonviolent […]

Parental Responsibility Trumps Child's Privacy
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Parental Responsibility Trumps Child’s Privacy

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To: Marybeth From: Message-reading Mom My daughter’s smartphone buzzed when she was out of the room. I picked it up to see who was texting her and was puzzled by the message that previewed on the screen, so I read the entire exchange. What I discovered concerned me. When I talked to her about it, […]

The Terrible Teenage Years?
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The Terrible Teenage Years?

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To: Marybeth From: Preteen Parent How do I survive a moody 12-year-old daughter without damaging our relationship (or killing her)? I find it very hard to allow her the power to ruin a family event, even a meal, with her gloom. Some days she is a pure delight (engaged, happy, articulate, intelligent) and the next […]

Parenting Teens: Where to Draw the Line
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Parenting Teens: Where to Draw the Line

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ANALYSIS/OPINION: Mom-blogger Ursula Hennessey, writing last week at OnTheCulture.com, questioned the lax supervision provided by too many parents of teens. A recent story in her local paper recapped an alarming incident in which nine high school students were found in one of the teen’s garage, drinking beer and setting up for an evening of drinking games. […]

Are You or Your Children Addicted to the Net?
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Are You or Your Children Addicted to the Net?

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Newsweek ran a very interesting article recently: Is the Onslaught Making Us Crazy? Tony Dokoupil examines the growing body of evidence that the internet is changing the way we think and feel. He writes, The current incarnation of the Internet – portable, social, accelerated, and all-pervasive – may be making us not just dumber or […]

I Cursed God: Healing in the Fire, Part 3
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I Cursed God: Healing in the Fire, Part 3

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Click for: Part One, Part Two Dad began to slowly recover.  We were ecstatic the day he was moved from the ICU to a regular ward. He had slipped out of the clutches of death.  The day he was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, it was like we had turned a corner into sunlight.  In […]

How to Positively Influence Your Young Adult Son- (without bugging him too much)
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How to Positively Influence Your Young Adult Son- (without bugging him too much)

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Recently, I’ve had opportunity to talk with several moms who have sons nearing or at young adult age. (Let’s say around the ages of 17-22) The mothers have asked me how we have handled influencing our late teen and young adult sons and how to do so that the sons will listen. In one instance, […]

MTV Exploits Viewers to Make a Quick Buck
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MTV Exploits Viewers to Make a Quick Buck

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I have joked for years that MTV is destroying civilization as we know it. Then, the network gave us “Jersey Shore,” and proved my joke wasn’t funny, it was true. Now, I’m convinced the people at MTV actually sit around a conference table and ponder the question: How can we exploit and corrupt the innocence […]

"Runner" Introduces Mother to Son’s World
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“Runner” Introduces Mother to Son’s World

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For as well as I know my only son, I never really understood him until I read John L. Parker Jr.’s Once a Runner. Often called the “definitive running story,” Once a Runner, published in 1978, remains a cult classic for those whose identities are defined by the sport of running. Through the tale of […]

A Letter to My Daughter
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A Letter to My Daughter

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My dear daughter, I know that you feel like no one can possibly understand the way you feel right now.  You think no one has ever felt this way.  You feel alone.  You look around and see couples and feel like the “odd man out.”  What you fail to see are all the other young […]

Kids’ Reaction to Perry is What’s Shuddering
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Kids’ Reaction to Perry is What’s Shuddering

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The subject line of the email from my daughter read, “I shudder.” The text said only, “You won’t believe this,” and included a link to a video that my 14-year-old freshman, Amy, wanted me to see. The video that prompted her concern was an episode of “Teens React,” a YouTube series from Fine Brothers Productions, […]

Moms, Teach Your Daughters Well
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Moms, Teach Your Daughters Well

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One morning last winter I was driving my teenager to school and she asked me the question  I had been dreading and avoiding . “Mom, did you wait?” I debated whether I should lie and preserve her image of me as a good example or tell the truth. I told her the truth. Not only […]

A Parent’s Deepest Pain
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A Parent’s Deepest Pain

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Yesterday, someone close to me shared the pain of his son’s incarceration due to drug abuse and brushes with the law.  Also this week, I received a letter from a prisoner sentenced to twenty years for meth. He was a graduate of St. Mary’s High school where my kids go.  After reading Amazing Grace for […]

‘Glee’ Displays Gay Teen Sex in Prime-time
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‘Glee’ Displays Gay Teen Sex in Prime-time

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This week’s episode of Fox Television’s prime-time musical comedy show Glee featured two teenage couples, one heterosexual and one homosexual, engaging in sex for the first time. Titled “The First Time,” the episode depicted two couples – a young man and woman, Finn and Rachel, and two young men, Kurt and Blaine – each losing […]

Some Belated Parental Advice to Protesters
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Some Belated Parental Advice to Protesters

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Call it an occupational hazard, but I can’t look at the Occupy Wall Street protesters without thinking, “Who parented these people?” As a culture columnist, I’ve commented on the social and political ramifications of the “movement” – now known as “OWS” – whose fairyland agenda can be summarized by one of their placards: “Everything for […]