Teenager
  • Schools are cheating, and we have to do something

Schools are cheating, and we have to do something

Last week I highlighted what I’d been hearing from parents about schools forcing C-grade students to take their A-Levels privately so they don’t show up in their results, how children are being denied places at sixth forms or made to sit their GCSE year again. Lots of parents got in

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  • Does Your Teen Have An Internet Addiction?
  • Does Your Teen Have An Internet Addiction?
  • Does Your Teen Have An Internet Addiction?

Does Your Teen Have An Internet Addiction?

Addiction is a scary word for parents. We have four children, Ben (18), Gabriel (15), Jessica (13) and Noah (7) and I’m not sure if anything would scare me more than finding out one of them had a drug addiction. I was a teen in the Grange Hill generation of

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Let’s Take the Parent Out of Parenting

Let’s Take the Parent Out of Parenting

There’s a video stumbling around the Facebooks recently encouraging the teaching of Life Skills in school. It lays down statistics that 30% of college kids can’t boil an egg. My college kid CAN boil an egg. The paleo friendly cacao and almond butter cups in the freezer tell me cooking

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Is This Depressing?

Is This Depressing?

Recently, I’ve realized my daughter isn’t quite the same. Her enthusiasm for things just isn’t there. For a while, I blamed teenage angst. Right? I mean all teens go through that. In fact, that tends to lead into their twenties, really. Stupid teenagers. But… something continued to nag at me.

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The Most Precious Gift

The Most Precious Gift

You know when friends invite you to their kid’s birthday party, but you don’t really know the kids and you’re not sure what to get them? Awkward, right? So, how awkward is it when you get to that point with your own kid? The fact is, I barely see my

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A Change In Holidays

We tell our kids that the holidays are about spending time with family. But, at the end of the day, don’t we focus we more on the traditions the holidays have assigned to them, than the actual time spent together? This actually changes. When are children are away for months

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Role Models Don’t Quit

Role Models Don’t Quit

A couple months ago, I talked about how your kids leaving home isn’t that bad. In that post, we talked about staying busy. We talked about following some before-I-die dream. We also talked about the idea of this gaping hole that is created when your kid leaves home. The reality

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Becoming THAT Parent

Becoming THAT Parent

I made a deal with my daughter when I bought her a car. SHE was responsible for everything. So, when I was borrowing her car and realized the registration was out of date, I didn’t quite handle it smoothly. Back Up A Tick Raising her, I was very adamant that

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When Your Kid Leaves Home

When Your Kid Leaves Home

When you’re used to having your kids around all the time and suddenly they’re living at college, it’s a huge change for both kids and their parents. I joked recently about all the positives about your kids going off to school – though some of them weren’t really jokes. Most

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Lies, damn lies and teenagers

Do you remember the days when your kids were biddable, easily bundled into a car for a day trip, could be bribed to do anything with sweets or Lego, still occasionally listened to what you said, and didn’t call you a “nob’ed” or reply “your mum” to every question, plea,

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