Mom, I need those jeans. All my friends are wearing them and my friends will make fun of me if I donít.î Despite what some teenagers think, parents arenít made of money. You may be struggling with how to address your teenagerís big spending behavior. The following ideas may give you the help you need to do exactly that.
As a parent, you try to teach your children to use money wisely. Then, when children hit the teenage years, they seem to forget everything youíve taught them. This may be partly due to peer pressure and trying to find their place in the world. However, no matter how much they think they need the newest in name-brand things, sometimes itís simply not within the family budget.
The Obama administration announced yesterday its intention to revise the No Child Left Behind Act which has been in place for nearly 10 years (for more information on the Act, take a look at Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind.) The Act had its supporters and detractors. We’d probably all agree that teaching children toward a single test is pointless if our intention is to create thinkers and decision makers. Research on the success in student achievement was surprisingly modest given the expense of the program. For some, the Act provided funding opportunities that helped schools desparately in need. The final score? It really depends on who you ask.
But I’d like to suggest that we take something else away from No Child Left Behind. Maybe we could think of it as own sort of exit exam, or maybe a skills test that our children would be able to pass so they will leave home with everything they need. Maybe this exam would range from simple to complicated, just like the range of skills needed to pass school assessments. Some simple items? Can our child look people directly in the eyes during conversations, or pay a complement? On the more complicated end of the test, maybe there would be an item having to do with keeping a budget or developing a solid social network. And just like the original No Child Left Behind, if our kids can pass these areas of the test, our financial situation improves as they move out into their own adult situations. The better the range of skills, the more chance for social and job success.
There is one advantage our parents-based No Child Left Behind program has over the school version, and that is we know our children on an individual basis. We know their strengths and weaknesses, the ways they have fallen down in the past, and what works best to pick them back up. Whatever skills we choose to focus on in our own children’s programs, they will serve our kids individually, which is something no state or national education system can only hope to approach.
So, as No Child Left Behind evolves into our next national education effort, and as we watch our school districts and textbook publishers scramble to meet their next challenge, we can take some time to decide where to set the achievement bar in areas that our schools are not responsible for.
When you were young, you may have heard the terrible things teens say to each other when they have acne. You know the ìpizza faceî comments and the poor self-image that goes with it. You want to spare your teen from being called the same names. Try these ways to control acne in your teen and they may not have to hear them at all.
In the past, people thought acne was caused by eating too much fried food or chocolate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Acne is caused, plain and simple, from clogged oil glands. Whatís clogging them? Normally itís a mixture of dead skin cells, extra oil, hair follicles, and possibly bacteria.
It’s a common complaint of many families these days. Everyone is involved in so many activities that itís hard to come together and enjoy time as a family. Consider some of these ideas on how to enjoy a fun family night in instead of everyone going their separate ways.
Scientifically it has been proven that families who eat meals together are more emotionally connected and more stable. And since everyone has to eat, why not start your fun family night in by cooking a meal together?
Family meals donít have to be elaborate or tedious to prepare. They can be as simple as cooking hamburgers, having chips, and drinks. Of course, you may want to prepare something that will get everyone involved in the cooking process. Someone can cut up vegetables, someone else be in charge of cooking the dessert, and another person in charge of the main meal. Have everyone pitch in and the work will be completed quicker. You can also use the time to reconnect and talk about whatís happened in each personís life since your last family fun night.
The press has frequently focused on infectious disease epidemics such as H1N1 influenza and HIV, but rarely discusses the growing problem of pediatric obesity. If HIV affected 30% of the population you would bet there would be an outcry for the government to do something about this problem. Right now almost 32% of children 6-17 are considered overweight or obese. There are some general guidelines on what to eat and how much to exercise but really there are no easy straightforward plans for families to address obesity in their children. Obesity is not as simple as eating less and exercising more or following the food pyramid, if it were that simple all my patients would be thin and fit and I wouldn’t be writing this article. Weight management should be approached in a holistic manner in that diet, exercise, emotional and family dynamics should be addressed.
A recent article by Edward Schultz in LDA Newsbriefs concerns new definitions of learning disabilities that must be recognized through the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA).
This article describes why severe discrepancies between ability and achievement (see below) are no longer required to qualify your child for an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) at school, and the author discusses new methods of determining who can profit from special classes or special teaching methods.
PL 94-142, the original law regarding special teaching and classes for students with handicapping conditions, appeared in the 1970’s. The law was aimed at helping physically challenged students, e.g., those requiring a wheelchair to get around, or those who lacked the muscular control to produce good penmanship, gain access to the comprehensive public school.
However, enterprising educators, psychologists, and others in the helping professions soon realized that there were many students who had no physical challenges, but they did have learning challenges such as dyslexia or poor auditory processing.
As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, my job is to evaluate and treat individuals with psychiatric disorders. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is a specialty of Psychiatry, which is, in turn, a specialty of medicine and therefore requires a medical degree (M.D. or D.O.). My patients often ask me how much education it takes to become a C/A psychiatrist. The minimum training includes four years of college (except in rare cases), four years of medical school, three to four years of general psychiatry residency, and two additional years of child and adolescent psychiatry training. That adds up to thirteen to fourteen years! At the end of this time period, C/A psychiatrists are educated in multiple areas including general medicine, neurology, child development, research and statistics, diagnosing psychiatric disorders by understanding the symptoms of each illness, and treating them using a variety of interventions including psychotherapies (individual, group, and specialized) and the use of medications to treat psychiatric illnesses. Child Psychiatry trainees must observe children in a variety of settings and understand how the environment impacts their functioning in addition to learning about the biology and genetics of psychiatric illnesses.
Many of you may have heard the report from the New York Times this week regarding the amount of time kids spend using some form of media device. I will be investigating various aspects of this article in the coming months.
I am a child of the 50’s when radio, record players and TV were the main sources of media entertainment within the home. I spent most of my day playing outside, climbing trees, riding my bike, roller skating and playing games with my friends. I would come in and sit on the floor in front of our radio and listen to kids programs that allowed me to create my own mental pictures created by sound effects and great story telling. I also had a variety of long playing records that kept me entertained for hours. We got our first TV around 1951 and I loved watching Sheriff John at lunch while eating a grilled cheese sandwich and soup and at night my parents and I would watch variety shows, I Love Lucy, My Little Margie or December Bride. The subject matter was pretty innocuous and much was left to the imagination. Most programming was live and simple in comparison to today’s amazing technical advances in the industry.
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Mom, I need those jeans. All my friends are wearing them and my friends will make fun of me if I donít.î Despite what some teenagers think, parents arenít made of money. You may be struggling with how to address your teenagerís big spending behavior. The following ideas may give you the help you need to do exactly that.
.) The Act had its supporters and detractors. We’d probably all agree that teaching children toward a single test is pointless if our intention is to create thinkers and decision makers. Research on the success in student achievement was surprisingly modest given the expense of the program. For some, the Act provided funding opportunities that helped schools desparately in need. The final score? It really depends on who you ask.
When you were young, you may have heard the terrible things teens say to each other when they have acne. You know the ìpizza faceî comments and the poor self-image that goes with it. You want to spare your teen from being called the same names. Try these ways to control acne in your teen and they may not have to hear them at all.
