On vacation recently, I caught up with an old friend who lives several states away. We raised our toddlers together, long ago.
“So how old is Jessica now?” I asked.
“Sixteen…” my friend cooed. Long pause. “And her BOYFRIEND comes to visit us tomorrow for the rest of vacation.”
Her tone was almost… gloating.
A new Tennessee law backing an abstinence-centered approach to sex education bans teachers from discussing or condoning any "gateway sexual activity" such as genital contact.
Teens who want to spend their weekend nights hanging out with friends at the mall may have to rethink their plans - at least if they live in Dallas.
The NorthPark Center, an upscale mall developed largest climate-controlled retail establishment in the world, has imposed a strict 6 PM curfew for teenagers. Effective immediately, parents or legal guardians must accompany anyone ages 17 or younger in the mall after that time.
The exceptions are youths working at stores or youngsters going directly to and then leaving movies.
I recently spent time around a table with some older and wiser mothers. Conversation soon turned to teenagers.
I envied my own budding members of this often maligned demographic, who sat on the hostess' matching recliners, lost in competition on their iPods, while the battle-worn women told of children morphing into angry, emotionally unstable - even abusive - teens.
I recently took my 11-year-old son for his yearly well visit with the pediatrician. At the end of the appointment, and after being assured all was indeed well, the doctor handed me a nifty little printout detailing the visit.
This week has been kind of unique because I've been super connected with my oldest child which is a rarity in my house these days. Being a developing tween, about to burst into the world of puberty, it seems that we hardly ever connect.
Cell phones or no cell phones for kids? That is the question.
Parents often wonder what the appropriate age is to get a kid a cell phone. Some kids beg for one, claiming all their friends at school have them. Some parents feel it’s a safety thing - kids can get ahold of them when necessary.
Teenagers in the beehive state are getting the sharp end of the stinger this month with the passage of H.B. 363, which requires school districts to teach kids to just say no to sex. The bill, sponsored by Rep.
Increasingly my children characterize my husband and I as the supporting idiots in their lives. Intellectually, I get it.
But it’s hard to transition from the gods they once thought us to be, into these obsolete fools they need us to become in order to fully become themselves. So senseless are we that we must be tolerated and - more often - corrected.
The most important woman in my life (rest in peace, mom) never talked to me - or my two sisters or my brother - about sex. Zilch about menstruation, pubic hair, hormones, intercourse or conception. We snuck our tampons, bras, and birth control into the house like Cold War spies. It was a surreal way to go through adolesc
