Author Archives: ncgs

Tween years are the years when your child is at Middle School. It’s a time when the child seems to have no control over his emotional state. It is a bewildering time for both the tween and the parents. My daughter will be in tears and does not know why and then rages the next […]

Being creative and thoughtful about understanding a teenager’s needs, will help build a strong family connection between the child and the adoptive family. One of the biggest issues for children who are adopted as tweens and teens is being able to trust anyone. Their life experience has taught them that they can only depend on […]

Preteens and teenagers make themselves heard in a variety of ways. It is only when you listen with your hearts and open your eyes do you really hear them.

An important part of parenting teenagers is teaching life skills, which requires that parents allow teens to take on some household chores.

Having teens help prepare family dinner on a weekly basis can improve parent-child relationships, decrease power struggles, and boost healthy eating habits.

The focus of forming a secure attachment with older children is to spend time together by finding common interests and activities that encourage communication.

Several different studies all point to similar family factors that play a role in either encouraging or discouraging sexual activity for teens.

They call it puppy love, but to a tween, it can mean so much more. Here are some insight and advice for parents who have a tween struck by the love bug.

Parenting is a most rewarding yet still challenging experience, and these tips can help your children develop into well-rounded young adults.

“Drama. Drama. Drama.” That is how Louann Brizendine, M.D., starts her chapter called “The Teen Girl’s Brain” in her fascinating book The Female Brain. We all know that teenage girls go through a dramatic change with the onset of puberty. The hormonal shifts leave them – and often us, as their parents – confused and […]

When the second wave of American feminism began in the late 1960s, most researchers in gender studies believed that all babies are born without gender-specific behaviors. Gender differences came about because parents and other adults treated girl babies differently than boy babies. A typical scientific study was one that had a researcher take a video […]

From Harry Potter’s Hogwarts to Professor Xavier’s school for X-Men, boarding schools have made quite the cinematic comeback in recent years. This trend is reflected in real life as well, as residential academic facilities are adding innovative approaches to a centuries-old tradition of offering quality educational experiences for specific sets of students.

Who is responsible for ensuring that teens are safe from school bullies? Since aggressive teens can’t typically be expected to police themselves, and bystanders are often targeted for bullying when they stand up for a friend in need, many people believe it is the responsibility of teachers, counselors, and parents.

Teachers are often stunned when they watch videos of themselves leading their classes. Time after time a video is clear evidence that a teacher favors boys. Professors David and Myra Sadker spent over a decade and thousands of hours in American classrooms watching and taking notes on sexist teaching methods. They published their results in […]

The older little girls get, the less confidence they have. A six-year-old girl is often robust and full of confidence, eagerly speaking up in her classroom, and full of energy and health on the playground. Girls in early elementary school not only earn better grades but also obtain higher scores on national tests like the […]

Once girls go through puberty and look like women, the boys at their schools sexually harass them. In survey after survey, overwhelming majorities of American high school girls report putting up with lewd comments, boys brushing against them in a sexual way, bra-snapping, unwanted kissing and fondling, and sexually explicit comments publicly posted on the […]

“I can’t do it.” “I don’t want to go to school anymore.” “Nothing I do matters.” If these statements frequently echo from your child’s bedroom as the alarm goes off for school each morning or as she sits down to do her homework each night, you may have on your hands what Carol Randstad, the […]

Recent studies suggest that teens today have more mental health disorders than prior generations and that these problems often go untreated.

Enthusiasm to begin the school day; attainment of B’s and A’s across the curriculum; enjoyment of (gulp!) reading a book; organization of Trapper Keepers and backpacks independent of adult admonition and frantic last-minute scrambling! Are these the wistful wishes of a parent of a struggling teenager? The bold response is “Not at all!” but let […]

It sounded so old-fashioned to me, like something from another century. I could not imagine I would like to be in an all-girls school. While there were plenty of boys who took over the classroom, most were fine in my opinion. Unless you had a real bully in the class, what difference could it possibly […]