Surviving summer, oh boy!
At this time of year, one of the most asked questions I get from parents is, “What can we do to make sure everyone has a good summer?”
Over the years I’ve compiled many lists, but each teen, and scenario, can be dramatically different.
However, I’ve found that these 6 “Secrets” almost always result in less consequences, and more fun, allowing parents and teens alike to continue surviving summer.
Filed under Teens & Tweens
Filed under Blogging, Children, frugal living, Life, Quality time with kids, Teens & Tweens
Your daughter hurriedly closes the computer every time you approach her or come into her room.
Lately she is looking pale and worn-out.
Chloe’s grades have come down seriously, this last semester.
She is silent and solemn.
You can see the shine in her eyes gone but the light in her bedroom, where she spends every second she is at home is always on, way past midnight.
When you ask her what is going on, she answers “Nothing”.
She is fifteen years old. In the last couple of months she looks as she were carrying the burden of the world over her shoulders.
One day, you decide to take a look at her computer and you are horrified.
Continue >>
Filed under Teens & Tweens
Validation is one of the most important elements to learn before parenting any child.
Validation allows your child to feel seen, heard, and accepted and to know that what they say matters and is understood.
The first time I can recall the purpose of validation as a parent, was when my son was eleven years old.
We had just spent the day at Universal Studios as a family, and we were having dinner in a restaurant when my son blurted out:
“There is no point in living.
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Filed under Children, Teens & Tweens
What are you (and every other parent) addicted to?
Your child, of course, and the dreams you have before you even hold that baby in your arms.
Those dreams have the power to derail your natural parenting instincts.
I am a recovering parent. I had a vision of how life would be, an ideal image of my children’s bright future.
I was addicted to my children and to their happiness and success.
Filed under Children
Hey all,
I’m not posting a lot lately, am I?
I’m soooooo into my new site http://www.parents-space.com, which you helped me create.
Really, you did! Continue reading
I was discussing this blog with my husband, telling him that it looks like 2 different blogs mixed together and that I probably need to split it to 2, when he scowled at me “you will handle 2 blogs? You can’t even handle one!”
Pause… Let’s see: I started sharing my life with you in January, following The scary world of 12’s incident. So far, 1000 of you are following my blog already. Does it mean that 1000 people think I can handle at least one blog? I sure hope so!
Thank you all again for taking the time to participate in my life by reading, commenting and sharing your own stories. It’s more than my husband does, and you don’t even know me. It’s like having 1000 people believe in me but they are far away, and one who doesn’t, but he is in my house! Let’s switch, I will have 1000 people in my house believing in me, and the one who doesn’t will be far away. Just a thought ;-).
About this blog: I am not sure it makes a lot of sense to jump from cutting to crafting. There are many days when I am very troubled about life being so stressful and painful for kids sometimes. After I post about it, I need to remind myself that there is also a lot of good and happiness going around, and I start looking for nice things. Than you get a crafty post. No wonder I started taking anti anxiety pills lately…well that’s for another post.
I guess this bipolar disorder will not continue forever .
And no, I don’t look like this blond in the photo, thanks for asking. Wish I did though!
Filed under Life
Since my last post on cutting I received many comments.
Some of them were not easy to read for me, increasing my awareness to this difficult issue of self-injury.
Thank you all for sharing your personal stories or general knowledge.
According to “parenting.org”, approximately one out of every eight people engages in some form of self-injury, it’s most popular among adolescents, and many people are introduced to it through social media and peer groups.
I find this to be amazing!
This post is for all the readers interested in this subject:
I will not dive any deeper into what you can all read in the internet yourselves, however for those of you who are new to this I would like to share with you “the butterfly project”.
I am not sure how or when it started, it may be a personal initiative of a Tumbler blogger, but if anyone has different info I will love to know.
The butterfly project suggests the following, to cope with a strong desire to cut your body:
1. When you feel like you want to cut, take a marker or pen and draw a butterfly on wherever the self-harm occurs.
2. Name the butterfly after a loved one, or someone who really wants you to get better.
3. NO scrubbing the butterfly off.
4. If you cut before the butterfly is gone, it dies. if you don’t cut, it lives.
5. If you have more than one, cutting kills them all.
6. Another person may draw them on you. these butterflies are extra special. take good care of them.
7. Even if you don’t cut, feel free to draw a butterfly anyways, to show your support. If you do this, name it after someone you know that is suffering right now, and tell them. It could help.
This project seems to have crossed countries virally, and in many countries teens are drawing butterflies on their bodies if cutting, or in order to show support in their friends who cut.
I wish you all, and myself, a good job in this parenting duty we have chosen… Good luck!
Filed under Teens & Tweens
It was an evening last week when I learned that my Tween, a very sensitive and empathic girl, is chatting with a friend who is, at the same time over the phone with another friend escorting the local police searching for another (fourth) friend suspected of trying to commit suicide, per her FB.
In case you’ve lost me, this is the situation: My kid is sitting on her bed trembling and crying, while I am staring at her I-pad unbelievably, chat lines running extremely fast saying: “Diane is not at the living room… wait, looking for her at the kitchen…not there! Perhaps she already did it! Wait, the police is entering the bathroom… Here she is! She is alive! She tried to kill herself!” Etc.
Once I was sure that Diane (which my daughter is not familiar with) is ok, and that her parents are aware of what’s happening in their house, I was available to take care of my Tween.
It was only then that I started to understand what my daughter’s world is made of:
She told me about girls trying to take their lives (as far as I understood she is daily exposed to that through FB), and about many girls around “cutting”.
Cutting?
I mean, most of us have heard about certain situations in which girls are engaged in self harm, but hey, am I the only one around who didn’t know that this has lately become a trend?
Quote – “Mom, do you expect me to believe that you’ve never seen all these girls whose arms are covered in the summer???”
Sorry, no…never!
I insisted, and learned that many of her FB friends, including some she personally knows (at least one is a good friend) “cut”.
Then she showed me theses endless FB groups called “Don’t hurt yourself” etc., where many girls are discussing this (As, “yesterday I cut a lot”!)
I was a Tween before (long ago, I admit). I don’t recall that my world was full of suicidal attempts and of girls cutting. How did it become so frightening and so violent for children?
I was asking around, and non of my mom – friends heard about it, so I called the school staff, none heard about it as well. Just when I started to think that it’s all a dream (a nightmare, you might call it), I watched ” The Good Wife” season 4 episode 8:
Grace telling Alicia about girls cutting. At least I am not the only shocked mom around, thank god. http://teenshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/resisting_cutting.html
Parenting And Stuff 