*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on Quartz. Communicating in blink-and-miss snaps and 140-character tweets is weakening actual interaction among adolescents. In a sample of 487 teens from a typical public school, those who spent more time communicating with their boyfriends or girlfriends through texting or social media were less adept…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on CNN. Dead bodies. Bloodied faces. Tears. Terror. Those are just some of the things that children see when they view news coverage of violent events. Screen violence — which includes violence in video games, television shows and movies — is associated with aggressive behavior,…
“Read their mind” is just another way of saying every leader needs to understand what’s changing mentally and physically. Kids and teenagers don’t think like adults. So it’s the role of a leader to keep presenting, keep translating and keep creating experiences until someone has learned what they need to know. When you know…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on TechInsider. Snapchat was built on the appeal of photos and messages that expire and disappear. But in April of this year, the app evolved to include a new revamped messaging system that’s way more powerful than texting. Now, it’s become a core means of communication for some…
There will come a time in your parenting journey when you will have to help a child decide if they should quit doing one thing so they can pursue another. How will you help them decide the best thing to do? Not a hard choice if they’re terrible at one thing and seem to have…
Splink 1: Amazing Metamorphosis Watch an amazing 4-minute video about the butterfly’s metamorphosis. Here’s a shorter 2-minute one for non-readers: What does metamorphosis mean? (To change, such as the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly) When the caterpillar appears from the chrysalis, it doesn’t look anything like a caterpillar. Instead it is a…
I’m learning that friendship, as a parent, is even more life-giving (life-saving?) now than ever before. And this says a lot coming from a friendship-nostalgia-freak who has a file box of every single note I received in middle and high school organized by name of the sender. (If anyone under 25 is reading this, a…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on USA Today. Police departments and safety agencies are warning players of Pokémon Go to stay safe and alert as hysteria over the popular mobile game swells. The game, which launched last week for iPhones and Android devices, is based on the classic cartoon and video game…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on MedlinePlus. Concussion rates are rising sharply among U.S. kids and teens, researchers report. The study, which looked at health insurance claims for almost 9 million Americans, found that concussion diagnoses more than doubled between 2007 and 2014. The big question is whether the increase reflects…
Remember when you used to have fun? I know, it seems like it’s been a while. Maybe a long while. Sometimes parenting can seem like a burden. Even reading about parenting can make you feel like you need to button down and master 5 more parenting skills—which, sometimes you need to do. But in the…