St. Jude’s Academy Celebrates the Achievements of Our Grade 12 Graduates
Earlier this month, graduates of St. Jude’s Academy received a special delivery – a box containing a Grad memory book, a hoodie, other items and a cap and gown. They were told to expect a surprise and to wear their
Simple bedroom makeover for housebound tweens
By Jane Muller Get your tween off line and into the real world with the prospect of a bedroom makeover. The first step might be to tidy up and possibly purge some stuff but after that the creativity can flow. Refreshing a
Seven mistakes parents make with teens
By Kathryn Streeter There have been times when I’ve been frustrated, and I’ll admit it, a bit hurt over my inability to connect with my teens. I’m guessing my frustrations are shared by other parents who are trying so hard but
The Sole Surviving Mom at the Bus Stop
By Cheryl Maguire “Hurry up or you will miss the bus,” I hollered to my 13-year-old boy/girl twins. Opening the front door, the icy air jolted me awake faster than a caffeinated coffee. The three of us scurried on the snow-covered sidewalk illuminated
Turning the corner
By Tiffany Doerr Guerzon My daughter and I have turned a corner in our relationship. Mia has come to the point in her life where her friends and social circle outrank her family — including me. The clues that she is
Something Real
By Luke Hill Our family often hosts homestay students from other countries. The most recent has been participating in a local high school program called Beyond Borders that specializes in teaching ethical business leadership by combining traditional classroom work with hands-on
Confident thinking
I’m not exactly an advocate of what people call “positive thinking” philosophies. I think they mostly encourage people to adopt wishful or imaginary thinking that prevents them from dealing practically with the very real problems of their lives. I am, however,
Crafting Your Roadmap to Success
It’s challenging for anyone – especially young people – to know where you’re going if you don’t have a roadmap to get there. Goal mapping is a critical strategy to give your tween or teen focus and help them visualize
Helpful Hints for Tween/ Teen Conversations
Tweens and teens may not always feel communicative about their school life. Because of busy, often over-booked schedules, parents may feel out of touch with their kids.
A to Zen for teens: 26 ways to help your teen find more peace
Does your teen seem more frazzled and stressed than usual? Follow these tips below to help your teen find some Zen state of mind.
Social Media Mania
Social media websites are constantly evolving and teens are more in tune with these changes than their parents. Like anything our child is involved in, we want to know everything we can about social networking sites so we can help
Bridging the “teen” gap
I was speaking at a parenting conference this past month and teaching simple ideas to help bridge the gap for parents, tweens and teens. So much about communication is simply habits and skills. So how would you evaluate your communicatio
Is your teen ready for an after-school job?
Is your teen ready for an after-school job? Giving teens the chance to earn money outside of the home can certainly be worthwhile. Jobs teach the value of money and hard work, and also the importance of timeliness and time
Teen Talk – Teens 13 to 17 Guiding away from poor choices.
Guiding away from poor choices. When teens make poor choices it may be a symptom of another problem and not just the present problem. Here are tips to guide you
Communicating With Your Teen
Teen Talk with Karyn Gordon - Many parents ask, “How should I talk to my teens about sex?” or “What should I say about skipping” or “I think my teens’ friends are doing drugs. Should I address this with my
Teen philanthropy increases
When it comes to fundraising for charity, through which on average teens say they are raising $516 per year, one quarter (24 per cent) have raised donations by fundraising on their own, outside of the school or a group they
How to keep teens talking to you during the school year
Around this time of year many parents are concerned with the school year and ask themselves: Will my kids be motivated? Will they make good friends? Will they develop good habits for? Will they talk with me and tell me
Teen Talk
I just wrapped a five-week speaking tour last week to thousands of pre-teens, teens and hundreds of parents across Ontario. One of my favourite times during these tours is during the question and answer period right after. I’m often asked
Teens help charities
More than 13,000 Torontonians pedalled together along the Gardiner Expressway and up the Don Valley Parkway, raising over $3 million in the 22nd Annual Becel Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart
Sucking in our teenagers
We parents can't avoid it and, you can be sure, we're not half as vulnerable as our kids are to the process. The branding of everything from clothes to coffee to beer pervades just about every minute of our lives