ScottCounseling

Going to a high school prom can be a great experience for the participants and parents. For many students, prom signifies a step toward adulthood, social acceptance and positive fun. Too often, however, prom becomes a negative event for some due to poor planning, false expectations and a lack of parent supervision or involvement. This article was written to help parent anticipate prom problem situations. Recognizing, discussing and trouble-shooting prom problem before the event begins will help keep your child safe, engaged and statistically in a better position to have fun.

Preparing for Prom

Talk to Your Teen
Communication is the number one way to keeping your teenager happy and healthy. Talking to your teen will open… Continue Reading

Helping your teen learn to become accountable for their behavior is important. One methods that can be used to accomplish this goal it to put together a Teen Family Contract. The purpose of any contract is to establish some formal understanding of a desired outcome. Establishing a Teen family Contract will bring about a purposeful understanding that may be referred to often when problem arise and clarification of rules, boundaries and desired outcomes need to be re-examined for the welfare of the teen and family members.

Purpose of a Teen Family Contract

A Teen Family Contract is a written set of expectations that adults have of their teens. The contract includes basic rules, consequences and privileges.

Teen Family Contract… Continue Reading

Ten Ways to Help Your Teen Tackle Problems

By Vanessa Van Petten

Learning how to approach a problem or a big project is a life skill that many adults do not ever learn how to do (I am still learning).
Recently, I have been working with a lot of teens on how to approach and get through their big school projects. I realized there was a system to approaching all of their issues, whether it was a science fair project, a history report, and, in one case, planning the school prom.

Here are 10 ideas you can use, and what you can teach your child as they start to deal with bigger issues in their lives.

1) Find a Starting Point
Half of the battle is… Continue Reading

What do today’s teen really worry about? Do they worry about possessing material item, friends, dying, not being in control? Some parents may be surprised that teens today worry about anything. The fact is, more teens worry about and share their concerns regarding issues that many parents want them to be concerned about. Author and parenting specialist Vanessa Van Petten shares here child development expertise regarding teen issues and worries on topics that may surprise you.

What Do Teens Really Worry About: The Top 5 Issues Revealed

Teens love to talk: they love to talk online, on aim, on the phone, at school, after-school, at the mall, in the car, behind their friends back–what on earth are they… Continue Reading

Emotional stress, anxiety and depression are leading indicators that your teen is hurting.  Signs and symptoms often go unreported as teens often feel that their parents “just don’t understand,” “seem not to care,” or “are too old to know” how teens feel.  The fact is, parents do care, but are unsure of the symptoms or the meaning of the symptoms of a hurting teen.  Below are some of the signs and symptoms and examples of how parents can respond.

Is your teen hurting?

Knowing When Your Teen Is Hurting…

• Your teen is beginning to overreact to situations that he or she has handled well at an earlier time.
• You teen begin to avoid you or other adults that she or he is usually comfortable being around.
• Your teen

Nation news reports on on four major news networks and the popular cable news networks all shared the following information regarding teenage girls in the United States:

1 in 4 Teenage Girls has a Sexually Transmitted Disease

Two days later, the story was gone!  In the meantime, 3.2 million female teenage girls in the U.S. are carrying a sexually transmitted disease (STD).  Is your child affected?  One parent whom I spoke with said, “No, I have boys.  Thank goodness for that!”  News alert!… if 1 in 4 girls are carrying a STD, than the boys are at risk too.  This article that was published by the CDC in March, 2008, should not cause parents to become over-reactive, but should  be a catalyst for… Continue Reading

Study Shows  Youngsters Use Inhalants as “Gateway” to Other Illicit Drugs

Author, Kelly Colihan, shares some alarming trends in preteen and teen use of inhalants ( Drugs administered by breathing in its vapors. Most inhalants are organic solvents such as glue and paint thinner or anesthetic gases) as “gateway” drug to other illegal and illicit drugs. Ms. Colihan and other child behavior experts share present date taken from over a half a million 12 through 17 year old student from across the United States. Child development experts are seeing increasing trends in younger children beginning to experiment with household products that include paint thinners, spray cans, glues and other toxic products to “get high.” The purpose of this article is… Continue Reading