Search Results for: blog how to push

Pushing for Publicly-Funded Preschool

If you missed President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address five months ago, you may be wondering why his recent trip to Illinois attracted so many leaders in the world of early education. Obama spent much of his trip to Fort Knox College on Wednesday reiterating the importance of his proposal to give American children a publicly-funded preschool education. The president unveiled his goal of providing quality early education for 4 year olds in his State of the Union address earlier this year and he is not backing down on his commitment. “If you think education is expensive, wait … Continue reading →

A Push for Safe Beauty Products

As I’ve warned before, your beauty products may be doing you harm.  Right now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t approve ingredients used in beauty products before they hit the shelves.  Instead, that responsibility of safety falls on the beauty product companies.  Still, there could be lead in your lipstick, lead acetate in your hair dye, and even formaldehyde and 1, 4-dioxane in you baby’s shampoo. But, that may change soon.  The Safe Cosmetics Act was introduced in 2011.  The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is hoping to convince the House of Representatives to support this bill, which would require … Continue reading →

Mother’s Blog About Mentally Ill Son Goes Viral

A mother has written a blog that has been passed around the internet via Facebook and in links in several other blogs and news articles. In it, she discusses her fear that her son will someday do something similar to what Adam Lanza did in Connecticut. It is an eye-opening piece of writing. Yesterday, I wrote a blog that clarified that not all people who have Asperger’s Syndrome are violent. Some can, and do, express loud, verbal, outbursts or may push someone away from them. Typically, the violence that people with Asperger’s Syndrome express is not premeditated or planned out. … Continue reading →

Don’t Push Too Hard

In today’s fast paced world we as parents often overload our children with a myriad of activities in order to help them find success. As single parents, we may not be able to keep our children in as many of these activities as our married counterparts, but we too often push our children a little too hard to be successful. We feel as if we have to go above and beyond to prove to the world that we are still good parents, and at times we get a little carried away. Sometimes as parents I think we need to re-evaluate … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away: Don’t Show Affection (Part 10)

You might be surprised at this last part of my blog series, “10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away.” We are going to wrap it all up with a pretty bow called affection. I think the reason some might be surprised is because it has never crossed their mind the importance of showing affection to your teen. In fact, for some parents it might actually feel very uncomfortable. And then for other parents, they get the sense that their teen doesn’t want affection. In fact, you might be outright rejected when you attempt to give a hug. But don’t let … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away: Expect Them to Act Like Adults (Part 9)

As I continue my “10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away,” in part 9 we are going to consider how we sometimes expect our teens to act like adults. One of the clearest ways we do this is by making statements like, “Grow up!” or “Why don’t you act your age?” I have made similar statements to my own teens. One day my oldest son responded to my request that he act his own age with “I am!” And you know what? He was right. Take some time to really think about statements like that. When we tell our teens … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away: Dismiss Their Hurts (Part 8)

In part 8 of my series on “10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away,” we are going to be talking about how dismissing their hurts can be detrimental to your relationship. In fact, this is probably one of the biggest ways we can push our teens away. One of the things we have to remember as parents of teens is that what we may consider to be “nothing” can be everything to them. Just because we can’t understand why they feel so strongly about something doesn’t mean it’s invalid. Sometimes we make statements like… “Oh, you’ll get over it.” “Just … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away: Criticize Their Style (Part 7)

Today in part 7 of my series, “How to Push Your Teen Away,” we are going to be talking about criticizing their style. This can be a huge problem. It is not enough that society sometimes judges teens by how they look but they don’t need their parents adding to it. I remember the day my daughter was first allowed to wear eyeliner. She started off with applying just a bit. Then as time progressed, she began to look more and more like a raccoon. It drove me nuts. I was constantly telling her to take some off. Then one … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away: Use Sarcasm to Get Your Point Across (Part 6)

Maybe this isn’t a problem for you but it is definitely one for me, sarcasm. I believe it was inherited from my father. In fact, I remember as a teenager really not liking it when he was sarcastic. So I have to really work on that when it comes to my teens. Today in the “10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away,” we are going to look at what can be a common problem for parents who are trying to get their point across, the use of sarcasm. I had always considered it to be a “funny” way of expressing … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away: Believe They Don’t Need You (Part 5)

Today we are going to look at another way we can push our teens away, as we venture into part 5 of my series, “10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away.” The focus for this blog is on believing that our teens don’t need us. This can happen one of two ways. The first is that we make the assumption that since they are older, they need us less. The second is that our teens subtly or blatantly send the message they don’t need us. I have heard some parents say that once their kids are teenagers, they will have … Continue reading →