Teens (13-19)

 
Welcome to BlogHer Moms, With Editor Stacy Morrison
BlogHerMoms wants to serve and serve up mommies, mamacitas, mas, hot mommas, and muthas (you know who you are). Plus green moms, soccer moms, pregnant moms, birth moms, working moms, homeschooling moms, single moms, step-moms, PTA moms, lesbian moms (and dads), need-a-night-out-with-the-girls moms, mom-in-every-way-but-the-name moms, mythical super-moms and for everyone who’s ever wanted to be called “mommy.”

Recent Comments on Teens (13-19)

More >
 
Show: Editors' Picks | Member Posts | Network Posts | All Posts

Encouraging Advice to Moms of Recent Graduates

5/24/12 1:00pm by JennaHatfield
  • 0
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
graduation

It's graduation time! From preschool through college, students are graduating and beginning the next phase of their lives, making their way through all of the advice being sent their way. Of course, the parents of those students are also starting new phases as well, feeling a bit forlorn that they don't have the same amount of advice coming their way. Author Karen White shared a lovely post at It's Only a Novel about this very thing, offering a sage piece of advice -- with a writerly twist -- to parents sending kids out of the nest.  Read more

Right-Brained, Wrong Brained? Let's Be Done with Standardized Testing!

5/16/12 1:00pm by lisaweldon
  • 11
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
exam

Right here in Georgia, at the University of Georgia, we have a world-renown department called the Torrance Center which developed a "right-brain" standardized test years ago. Only our gifted students get to take it to gain entry into the elite programs. Imagine if some of our troublemakers -- or day dreamers -- took it? Wonder if "those ADD and dyslexic kids" took those kinds of tests. What if we tested each child to find their gifts and supported those? No, we test to find WHAT’S WRONG with children and then pound in their little heads how poorly they’re performing.  Read more >

A Tip for a Quieter Home: Pause Before You Get Angry

5/8/12 9:16am by AllisonCarmen
  • 16
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
pause

I have never considered myself an angry person who flies off the handle when something happens. So I found myself extremely surprised when my daughter approached her teenage years and there was yelling in our home. To be clear, some of that yelling was coming from me! I could argue that my anger was coming from a response to my daughter yelling at me for not agreeing with her or trying to help her get to school on time. I could speculate that my anger was a result of what I perceived was her lack of appreciation for what I do for her every day.  Read more >

Helping My 13-Year-Old Get Ready for Social Media

5/1/12 1:01pm by fouragainsttwo
  • 7
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
social media

It is times like these that make me think she may be ready to dip her toe in the tumultuous ocean of social media. Not because writing a good blog makes you savvy to the ways of Facebook, but because she has demonstrated that she can share her feelings effectively to the world (or me). She writes, she proofreads, she edits. I have an almost 13-year-old that is bringing the whole social media thing and her use of it to my forefront. I have several ideas running through my head on how to approach this, but I still have time.  Read more >

Loving Kids Like They Need to Be Loved

4/26/12 1:00pm by Owlhaven
  • 1
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
loving kids

If you've never thought what it's like to parent a teenager who was adopted and the ins and outs that go with that special circumstance, I invite you to read this post by Mary at Owlhaven. What seems like an innocent shopping trip holds a weight for this mom. Her point -- that sometimes we need to love our children how they need to be loved more than we want to love them -- is one that hits me right where I need hit.  Read more

Facebook as a Parenting Punishment Tool: Good Idea?

4/26/12 8:19am by Gina Carroll
  • 48
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
ava elizabeth's facebook photo

Denise Abbott's decision to publicly discipline her daughter on Facebook sets a precedent to be public about their issues. Technically, her 13-year-old Ava set this precedent when she first disrespected her mother online, but Denise followed suit. If the experts who say that modeling proper behavior is the best way to teach children life skills, like discretion and respect, then arguably Abbott's choice of discipline may have inadvertently reinforced her daughter's behavior instead of curbed it. Kind of like spanking a child to punish him for hitting, or screaming at a child for throwing a tantrum.  Read more >

The Call Every Parent of a Driving Teen Fears

4/19/12 1:00pm by Tena's Therapy
  • 3
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
accident

I'm not sure how parents survive "the driving years." I'm not there yet, but I can just picture myself sitting by the window, waiting for their headlights to return. I would assume you get used to it, but when I read things like what Tena of Tena's Therapy recently shared, I wonder how you ever get to that place. She recently received "the call" that her son had been in an accident.  Read more

A College Timeline for Neurotic Parents to Guarantee Acceptance

4/16/12 9:14am by J.D. Rothman
  • 3
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
college campus

April is prime time for college neurosis. Seniors try to get off wait-lists while juniors are preparing to receive scores for the ACTs they bombed. But if your child is under ten, or better yet, still in utero, you can alleviate a lot of stress by adhering to this handy timeline: ONE MONTH BEFORE BIRTH -- Travel to Dhaka, so your baby will qualify for Bangladeshi citizenship.  Read more >

Helicopter Parents, You're Damaging Your Kids! Stop Hovering!

4/5/12 1:16pm by Lucy's Reality
  • 29
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
helicopter

Helicopter parents constantly justify their actions, and they typically "yell" loudest at parents who condemn. Typically, their defenses for their actions are, “I will do anything to give my child a leg up, what is wrong with that?,” and “I have to have my child’s back.” Or, “I rather be over involved that not involved.” No one is suggesting not to be involved, the suggestion is "backing off." It is sad, these helicopter parents have no idea the actual damage they are doing to their children. What does smothering do? It kills!  Read more >

The Fault in Our Stars: Yes, Teens Really Are That Smart

3/21/12 10:11am by sassymonkey
  • 14
  • Sparkle (
    )
     
The Fault in Our Stars John Green

In January of 2007 someone pointed me to a YouTube channel that a young adult author and his brother were using as their main mode of communication for the whole year. That author was John Green, and I quickly became a fan of both him and his brother Hank. I hadn't read any of John Green's books before I started watching the videos, but once I started, I became hooked and began thrusting them into the hands of every reader I knew. To say that I was really happy to be reading The Fault in Our Stars for BlogHer Book Club is an understatement. My reaction was closer to an ode to Kermit the Frog, complete with a big "Yay!" and flailing Muppet arms.  Read more >