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More than ever colleges and universities are not allowing parents to take part in freshmen sessions that include information about on-boarding students to campuses across the county. This practice can leave some parents feeling helpless and anxiety-ridden, but there...
Statistics show that family support for reading – including reading aloud to children – has a major impact on reading success. However, research has uncovered a variety of reasons why many families aren’t as involved as they could be.
Whether the loss is a grandparent, a parent, a classmate or even a beloved family pet, the grieving process can be difficult and every child will grieve in his own way. Parents, caregivers and educators wondering how they can help will find many answers to their questions in the following guide, which has been assembled with advice from several experts in the area of child and adolescent grief. You will find tips broken down into a range of ages and experiences, and information about what to say, who should say it, what to look out for and how to help.
Dramatic, disturbing news events can leave parents speechless. These age-based tips on how to talk to kids about the news—and listen, too—can help.
If it bleeds, it leads. The old newsroom adage about milking stories for sensationalism seems truer than ever today. And with technology doing the heavy lifting—sending updates, tweets, posts, and breaking news alerts directly to our kids’ phones—we parents are often playing catch-up. Whether it’s wall-to-wall coverage of the latest natural disaster, a horrific mass shooting, a suicide broadcast on social media, or a violent political rally, it’s nearly impossible to keep the news at bay until you’re able to figure out what to say. The bottom line is that elementary school-aged kids and some middle schoolers have trouble fully understanding news events. And though older teens are better able to understand current events, even they face challenges when it comes to sifting fact from opinion—or misinformation.
When you ask most 6th, 7th and 8th grade students about their college plans, you will quickly realize that college is the furthest thing from their minds. Middle school students are much more interested in their most recent social media post, the latest video game, their favorite sports team, and hanging out with their friends. And parents, that’s truly okay. Adolescence is a time to explore, learn and have fun. So, don’t stress too much about their lack of interest in building a college list or starting that essay for the college application. With this in mind, parents can do a lot to help prepare their students for college, starting at a young age. The first thing to do? Help them to create a college-going mindset. Here’s how.
Adolescents need our respect.
Sure, we would all appreciate a little more respect, perhaps especially from the teens in our lives. But adolescents are particularly sensitive tobeing treated respectfully. Middle adolescents, roughly ages 13 through 15 (grades 7 through 10), appear to be especially responsive to status and respect compared to younger children or adults. When we understand this need and treat adolescents with the respect they crave, we can build closer relationships, support positive behavior, and possibly even earn their respect in return.
This section pulls together fundamental information about bullying.
Kids who know what bullying is can better identify it. They can talk about bullying if it happens to them or others. Kids need to know ways to safely stand up to bullying and how to get help.
Stress on steroids. That’s how life feels for many Americans today. Consider senseless shootings, a nasty political climate, catastrophic weather, increasing suicide rates. Factor in close-to-home stressors such as caring for a loved one; parenting a learning-disabled, autistic, depressed, or anxious child; managing your own chronic condition or addiction; looking for a job. Now layer in everyday annoyances — traffic, train delays, a nasty coworker, a long supermarket line after an even longer day. No wonder we feel overloaded, overwhelmed, out of control, and unsafe.
Parents juggle. It’s what we do. And the reality is that sometimes, we can feel like we’re not juggling very well, and just can’t keep all the balls in the air. All too often, it can seem like there just isn’t enough time in the day to do all the things we want and need to do, whether it’s meeting that work deadline, tackling the always-growing pile of laundry, helping kids with homework, and somehow still getting dinner on the table on time. Reminding ourselves that we can’t get everything done and that things definitely slow down when we become parents is one of the first things we should do when we feel overwhelmed and stressed before we can begin to tackle the “how” in time management.
Someone who witnesses bullying, either in person or online, is a bystander. Friends, students, peers, teachers, school staff, parents, coaches, and other youth-serving adults can be bystanders. With cyberbullying, even strangers can be bystanders.
Children with disabilities—such as physical, developmental, intellectual, emotional, and sensory disabilities—are at an increased risk of being bullied. Any number of factors— physical vulnerability, social skill challenges, or intolerant environments—may increase the risk. Research suggests that some children with disabilities may bully others as well.
Digital media and apps allow children to communicate and express their creativity, connect with peers, and share their feelings. However, they can be an avenue through which cyberbullying occurs. There are many types of apps and sites available for free that give users the ability to search for people and share or post information about them anonymously.
Parents may not be aware of the apps that their children use regularly or may not be aware of the risks involved in using them. There are many ways that cyberbullying can be hidden in apps and sites, such as texts, videos, and web calls that disappear or do not appear on the device’s call or text message logs.