parenting teens

How to Spot Teenage Anxiety and Support Your Teen

teenage anxiety that causes serious physical side effects

It took me a while before I actually went to the hospital, and I almost died How to deal with stress and anxiety in a teenager Are you worried about a teenager with anxiety? I’ve been thinking a lot about anxiety recently. I’ve had episodes of anxiety throughout my life, and I’ve tried to pin it on one or other lifestage. But in reality I think I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. I have no idea where it began for me, but I’ve always chewed my nails, from a young age. I have very early memories …

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Has your child been groomed?

Emma describes how she was groomed from the age of 12, and the impact it had on her adult life

*Trigger warning – episode contains references to sexual abuse. The crazy thing… was that I felt really guilty  Has your teenager been groomed? Or are you a young person experiencing grooming? In this episode Emma Cantrell talks about her experience of grooming from the age of 12 over a number of years. What does grooming mean? The NSPCC defines grooming as follows: Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked. Anybody can …

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Is Your Child Old Enough For A Smartphone? 5 Important Factors To Consider

Kids are so tech-literate these days and some parents give their child a smartphone when they’re incredibly young. But there are some parents who don’t like the idea of their child having a phone at all and make them wait until they’re in their late teens before letting them have one.  Source – Pixabay CCO License If you’re a parent, your kids are probably nagging you about getting a phone if they don’t have one already. They’ll tell you that everybody else at school has one and you’re being unfair by not letting them have one, so what should you …

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Teen Mental Health – How to Get Your Teen to Open Up and Talk

It's hard to talk to moody teens about mental health

Advertorial:  I have been paid for my time in creating this post for Compass Fostering. All writing is my own Have you ever tried to get your child to talk to you about something that’s worrying them? It’s like a bizzare (and much less enjoyable) game of 20 Questions, isn’t it? Try it with a teenager and you won’t even get Yes/No answers; you’re more likely to be on the receiving end of a couple of grunts, followed by a growl (or shriek) of outrage, and a door in your face. Am I right?  During the pandemic I think teenagers …

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8 TV shows that are helping teenagers to understand racial injustice

Black Lives Matter posters

  When you’re living with a teenager there’s a lot of debate. That’s a good thing. Young people in 2020 are massively well-informed, and for the most part pretty thoughtful about what’s going on in the world. When you talk current events with them, you will get hugely impassioned conversations – sometimes rants – from your young person, but if you persist, and hold your frustrations sometimes, it’s so worth it. Teenagers can be idealistic, but these conversations are a wonderful opportunity for them to explore what they really think, understand their parents as adults rather than Mum and Dad, …

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