Need Your Nats Support

First things first: go Nats! We took our toddlers to the first season of Washington Nationals’ games in 2005 and every year after; we wanted them to love baseball the way we do. They do indeed love the game, but it took until their teen years for this D.C. team to finally be in a World Series!

In other teen-related news, I’m excited to share my newest gig: I’m now a contributing writer with Your Teen Magazine, where I’ll be sharing a few stories a month.

While I’m naturally biased, I find Your Teen to be a great resource for parents of teens, along with the site Grown and Flown. As I told a friend, there are so many books and resources to prepare parents for childbirth and the early years. But those resources dwindle as our kids get older, even though the challenges can get harder.

Your Teen was created to fill that void. It delves into research studies and interviews experts, while also seeking out families’ insights and stories. Its articles and social media platforms not only inform, they also help families feel less alone when it comes to parenting teens, which is so important. And that’s the key thing: Your Teen isn’t about being the perfect parent to perfect teens (I’m not even sure what that looks like). Instead it’s a place to learn, commiserate, and celebrate these years with a parent community.

As their site notes, “Not all families are the same but we all have the same goal—to raise happy, healthy, independent kids who will have the emotional confidence and practical skills to move on to the next stage of their life.”

So true!  In the meantime, here are two of my recent articles:

My interview with Louis Profeta was ones of Your Teen’s most shared posts this week. As an Emergency Room (ER) doctor who goes around and talks to colleges “brave enough to have him,” he’s got a unique perspective on college readiness; to him maturity matters more than an SAT score, as he sees too many students in the ER who went off to college without the necessary social/emotional skills. Dr. Profeta shares four questions that parents need to ask before sending a child off to college. He also wisely suggests that we parents ignore the societal comparison game, understanding there are many paths to success for our teens.

On a less serious note, I got to interview some wise women about good habit-setting, which is hard enough for ourselves, much less our teens. This one has lots of expert advice when it comes to chore and organizational habits, including guidance on where to stand your ground and when to back off. (And maybe when not to jump in and do things ourselves. Looking at me.)

Here’s where I need help: I’d love your story ideas. While not all my readers have teenagers, I’m guessing most of you know someone parenting a teen. If you have a question or topic that you’d like to see discussed, let me know–there’s a chance my editors would be interested too.

Thanks for reading. And go Nats! We’ve been waiting a while.