Autism: Summer Isn’t Always Carefree
By MaryBeth Matzek Summer is nearly half-way over, but the carefree summer days most of us remember as children and teens is not the usual case for teens on the autism spectrum. More often than not,...
View ArticleFive Parenting Opportunities that Impact Your Child
By Brenda Yoder Summer time is filled with lots of time with kids who aren’t in school. It’s easy to have big ideas for summer plans that quickly fade into “back to school planning.” Here are five...
View ArticleMandatory Family Fun Day: Why I Force My Teens to Hang Out with Me!
By Carol Rood What does your family fun day look like? I write about my kids a lot. I suppose that can be boring to read about after awhile, but to be honest, my life really does revolve around my...
View ArticleAppreciating the Small Gifts in the Sandwich Years
By Guest Author The Sandwich Years of Midlife I am a 40-something. Mother of three, wife of one, daughter of two—one of which, my mom, has Alzheimer’s Disease. Looking back on the past year, it was...
View ArticleThe Sound of Music and the Price of Parental Sanity
By Guest Author Music in the house When I was a second grader somebody let me pick up and scratch out a few notes on a violin. I can’t fathom why I wanted to. Might have been a Laura Ingalls kind of...
View ArticleEntitled Teens. Are We Ruining the Next Generation??
By Carol Rood Are you raising entitled teens? I have 4 children. 2 of them are Karol’s kids, and so they are my “step children”, and 2 of them are my biological children. The “step kids” are 22 and...
View ArticleFinding Clothes for Special Needs Teens
By MaryBeth Matzek The Challenges of Shopping and Special Needs Teens and Tweens Most parents view clothes shopping for their kids as a fairly straight-forward event. Go to store, pick out clothes –...
View ArticleLazy Days of Summer – What’s THAT?!
By Sarah Nicoli Does anyone else think the phrase ‘lazy days of summer” is an oxymoron??? That’s how the Facebook exchange began. Started by my friend Melanie. Here’s the ensuing conversation (the...
View ArticleWhat to Say to a Child With Stage Fright
By Guest Author Helping Your Kids Overcome Stage Fright “I’m so nervous. How do I not get nervous when I’m playing my solo?” How many times have we heard these words uttered to us as music teachers and...
View ArticleTeens and Social Media – What Parents Need to Know
By Guest Author Parents receive daily warnings on how their teens’ social media activities will hurt their chances of getting into college or finding a job. Rather than dwelling on the well publicized...
View ArticleSetting Priorities for Back-to-School
By Sarah Nicoli How to Have a Great School Year It’s back-to-school time and that likely means your kids, regardless of their age, are getting antsy and restless; you are likely going nuts and x-ing...
View ArticleWhy Losing It And Being Weird Is Part The New Normal
By Brenda Yoder The summer’s gone, another school year begins. As an educator and counselor, my life revolves around summer vacations and the school calendar. And this summer was the weirdest ever....
View ArticleHigh School – The New Frontier?
By It was silent in the car during most of the 25-minute drive to my son’s out-of-town high school for freshman orientation. He was reading a book that he was supposed to have finished during the...
View ArticleSpecial Needs Parenting – Finding Your Support
By MaryBeth Matzek Finding support essential for parents of special needs teens When your child is diagnosed with any kind of medical problem, it’s like you’ve joined a special club that you had no...
View ArticleUnchaperoned at the Bus Stop (!)
By Caroline Poser I won’t be needing this anymore, I thought to myself with almost the same amount of wistfulness that the grandma in the Dunkin Donuts commercial had while retiring her baking pan when...
View ArticleIn the Game of Discipline, Who Wins and Who Loses?
By Becky Hood When you have teenagers, discipline takes on a whole new meaning. As do the ‘crimes’. I mean, when they were little, it was time out, and it could be multiple times a day. Some days I...
View ArticlePrivate Parts, Public Display and Parenting Boys: A Mom’s Perspective
By Brenda Yoder He Drew a WHAT?! A mom of girls recently posted a question to me as a mom of boys, “What is the allure in drawing penises? I just don’t understand!” She was shocked at the large “thing”...
View ArticleThe Great Unknown Future of a Special Needs Tween
By MaryBeth Matzek My son’s future is never too far from my thoughts. When I recently had surgery that was supposed to be minor that kept me on the couch for a week, I thought quite a bit about Michael...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to My 16 Year Old on Her Birthday
By Marie Rossiter Dear Miss C, Today you turn 16 years old. As much as I would love to sit here and offer you pearls of wisdom as you wade into womanhood, I think it’s finally time for complete...
View Article5 Truths About Your Social Life As A Parent Of Teens
By Brenda Yoder Social Life? What Social Life? As a parent of teens, you may feel you don’t have a social life. Or you when you try to plan events, your teen’s activities supersede yours. Here are 5...
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