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Parent News, January Sent Thursday, January 12, 2012 Amplify's Parent Network January Newsletter 2012 What Kind of Boyfriend or Girlfriend? Casting a Vision for your Teen Looking back, what makes the difference between a teen who chose well, and one who just slid into relationships, with sometimes traumatic outcomes? If we parents knew the magic formula, If I do A then B will follow, wouldn't that be nice? Nevertheless, there are guideposts we can follow. Let's listen in on one teen who had a great high school experience, […]

Parent News, November Sent Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network November Newsletter 2011 Teen Dating...It's a Whole New Ballgame When we were teens just beginning to date, our parents knew what to expect. And so did we. They expected to set the age at which we could date, and it wasn't Jr. High. Most of us depended on our parents to drive us places, and so they knew where wewere most of the time. Even 7 years ago I, as a parent, knew when my daughter had her first suitor because he had to call the house […]

Parent News, October Sent Friday, October 14, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network October Newsletter 2011 Character? What's Character? One thing Amplify teaches teens is how to take time to be friends first in a potential romantic relationship. We explain that taking it slow (no touch) allows clear-headed thinking during the time it takes for someone's true character to come out. Specifically, 90 days is about the time it takes for someone to BEGIN to reveal who they really are. It has never occurred to me to […]

Parent News, September Sent Wednesday, September 14, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network September Newsletter 2011 Forgiving Our Children Every one of us has kids who blow it...they do something stupid, or even shocking. We sit down at the computer and, on a hunch, check the history, only to discover a son has been looking at the most demeaning pornography...every day. Maybe your daughter's cell phone has clear evidence that she has been sending racy pictures of herself, and has received them as well. A teacher calls with clear […]

Parent News, July Sent Monday, July 11, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network July Newsletter 2011 Teens Feeding Their Minds With Dark Themes As a guest presenter, I am always looking for ways to connect with students when I walk into a new class for the first time. Hence, I always notice the readers. You know...the ones who are using every spare minute to read a book they just can't put down. It's usually a girl. And the book often has a vampire , or something equally dark, on the cover. I get excited when I see my […]

Parent News, June Sent Saturday, June 11, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network June Newsletter 2011 Guiding...or Controlling? Finding the Balance I saw a study yesterday that reminded me of past battles in my home with my teens (who are now, thankfully, 20-somethings). I couldn't keep that familiar triumphant I told you so from crossing my mind when I read the online article entitled Men see bikini-clad women as objects, psychologists say. As a sex educator, I guess I know too much about what all that exposed flesh does to […]

Parent News, May Sent Monday, May 9, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network May Newsletter 2011 When Media Squeezes out Family, Teens Suffer It seems I hardly go a day without hearing about some kind of detrimental effect of media on kids. The latest is pretty serious. A study reported on in the Journal of Preventative Medicine showed that high computer use was associated with approximately 50 percent increased engagement with a cluster of six MRBs [multiple risk behaviors], including smoking, drunkenness, non-use of […]

Parent News, April Sent Thursday, April 7, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network April Newsletter 2011 Just Friends, for 90 days... By the time I introduce the 90-day challenge to teens in the classroom, I've already discussed physical and emotional consequences of being sexually active, pressures to just do it, and how people become attached in relationships. The conclusion of all that preparation is to ask teens to consider just HOW to go about having healthy relationships with the opposite sex. Author John Van Epp has a […]

Parent News, March Sent Monday, February 28, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network February Newsletter 2011 Sex, Morals, and Religion In my reading on teens and their sexual choices, I have run across studies that indicate that teens who choose abstinence are more likely to say they are motived by religion or morals than other factors, such as fear of STDs and pregnancy (although that had an impact). Those of us who have lived through the sexual revolution may have seen that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and perhaps […]

Parent News, January Sent Friday, January 14, 2011 Amplify's Parent Network January Newsletter 2011 Is it Worth the Wait? Teens are often thinking: Yeah, but what if you don't get an STD or get a girl pregnant? Why NOT have sex? Besides the fact that you can't cherry pick your consequences, or be at all sure that your chosen form of protection will work, there are other reasons to be abstinent. And that includes better outcomes in later years for those who choose to wait. One study found that 20 years […]