I found this press release from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to be very interesting reading this morning. It seems our teens are one-upping us again. Those little aliens are actually spending time online learning, who would have thought?

Seriously, this is an excellent study, read it though and let me know if you agree in our comments area:

Results from the most extensive U.S. study on teens and their use of digital media show that America’s youth are developing important social and technical skills online – often in ways adults do not understand or value.

“It might surprise parents to learn that it is not a waste of time for their teens to hang out online,” said Mizuko Ito, University of California, Irvine researcher and the report’s lead author. “There are myths about kids spending time online – that it is dangerous or making them lazy. But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age.”

Read more...

CNN Health has reported that teenagers don’t have the resources adults have when it comes to quitting smoking. ‘Smoking cessation drugs, patches, gum and lozenges are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for anyone under 18.’ Couple that with the fact that underage teens aren’t lawfully allow to have cigarettes so they aren’t signing up for support groups. This could be behind the reason why smoking rates among 9th- to 12th-graders have remained stable for the past five years.

Is your teen trying to quit smoking? How is he/she going about it? Share in our comments area.

Related Resources:

• 5 Truths About Teen Smoking
• Screening Quiz: Is your teen smoking?
• FAQ: Why Do Teens Start to Smoke?

Teens are losing their jobs to slowdowns in the economy, which is also forcing parents to give less for allowance. All in all spelling out a hard times for teen related stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister and Old Navy. Job loss for teens are at their worse in the last decade, we blogged about that here. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, October’s statistics said 19.3 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds who wanted jobs couldn't find them. That's up from 14.7 percent last October and 12.4 percent in 2000.

College students coming home who work during the holidays for next semesters spending money may have to cut down on Friday night pizzas, but of course still need to buy the essentials like shampoo.

While a troubled economy is never good, it does offer parents an opportunity to teach our teens more about money and how to manage it in times where there is less. The difference between labels and generic products, how to bargain shop, how to deal with the marketing of things they just ‘have to have’ and how to save money.

My oldest waitresses at a local eatery and last night she went to work. She had one table the whole night. While we have been saying that money is tight all over for a month, she got to see it first hand on her own. “I need to be careful with my money” is now firmly implanted in her head.

What has been your teen’s experiences with his/her job recently? Your experiences with allowances? Share in our comments area.

Writing out your Christmas cards soon? Need to get your family or youth group in the spirit of giving? The American Red Cross has an effort currently to get one million holiday cards to the troops. I’m bringing it to my Girl Scout Troops, both the teen troop and the younger ones and might have my family do some too. Here is more information on the American Red Cross website. Be sure to start right away as the cards need to be postmarked by the 10 th of December.

Related Resources:

• Local Volunteer Opportunities for Teens
• How to Promote a Positive Volunteer Experience
• Teenagers Are Changing the World

This past week has been a busy one for many of the parenting bloggers around the Net. Interesting information abounds, so grab a cup of tea or coffee and check them out.

Over at the Weary Parent, I enjoyed reading a blog post on movie ratings. I even learned something new, the ratings board in Los Angeles considers it inappropriate for a parent to bring a child to an R-rated movie. I do too, but I didn’t realize they had an opinion one way or the other.

Over on P.U.R.E., Sue Scheff asks us: Do you realize that schools have devalued and cut physical education to the point that the majority of children get one day of PE per week? Check out the information she has gathered.

At a Second Cup, a daughter asks her mom to choke her. Very funny post.

18th Birthday, A Gift from Dad, a post with a poem that has caused a tears to well up in my eyes. They haven’t spilled over yet, I’ll wait until March 22nd when my oldest hits this milestone.

Have any blogs to share? Have an opinion on these posts? Leave a comment.

When your teen seems moody or sad, do you think its depression or it's just a phase? Believe it or not, depression is more common than we realize. According to a national study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, 61 percent of 8th to 10th graders reported feeling sad and hopeless, 36 percent reported nothing to look forward to, and 34 percent expressed serious thoughts of committing suicide. Scary to think about!

It's important that parents not only think about it, but talk to our teens about it too. Talking to teens can make them feel less hopeless and help them understand or work through whatever problems they face. It will put you on your teen's side - which is right where you want to stay.

Related Resources:

• 5 Things You Should Do if You Think Your Teen is Depressed
• Signs of Depression

A new forum member asks: "I am only 21 years old and am not a parent, however I am going to be student teaching adolescents very soon. Maybe you all could help answer/debate a few questions of mine. First of all, how do you view teens today? Do you think it is more or less stressful growing up in today's world as a teenager than it would have been perhaps 20 or 30 years ago? I'm curious to find out why or why not."

Denise’s thoughts: Very interesting question. I’ve enjoyed reading the responses on the forum and I’m looking forward to the responses we get here in the comments area. I thought I might go off on a tangent and talk a bit about how much parents have changed in that time period too. While the younger generation may not see it this way, generationally, parents get smarter. Today’s teen is facing the ‘been there, done that’ parent. We not only read what to expect when we were anticipating our children, we acted on the good advice. We take advantage of places to talk and get help, like this forum. Previous generations of parents didn’t have that.

Asking our parenting community: What are your thoughts? How have teens changed since the 80’s? What are the changes you see in parenting during that time frame? Please share your opinions, antidotes and stories in the comments area.

Suggested Reading:

• How to Talk to Your Teen About the Future
• 3 Reasons Why Parents Shouldn't Use Scare Tactics
• Tips on Setting Limits & Rules

A study from the RAND research organization, points to exposure to some forms of sexually explicit entertainment as one of the contributing factors to teen pregnancy. A further study ‘added to existing evidence that youths who play violent video games -- a worldwide trend with American children averaging 13 hours of video gaming a week -- led to increased physically aggressive behavior.’

I know parents have heard the saying: garbage in, garbage out. But it is difficult when garbage is all that is offered. Here are three things you can do today:

• Monitor what your teen is watching and playing, offer alternatives to television or violent video games.
• Teach your teen to be media literate.
• Work with your teen on his/her body image, self-esteem and self-confidence.

What do you think? Share your thoughts, tips and family stories in our comments area.

You can easily get your teen involved in history by digging up facts that he/she would be interested in. Since the US Thanksgiving holiday is coming up, I'll use it as an example. Below I have listed some facts about some of the teenagers who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower. Arm yourself with them and have a good old fashioned conversation at dinner tonight.

This article on Newswise.com states:

The 2006 National Young Driver Survey (NYDS) of more than 5,500 teens across the country revealed that about six percent of students in grades 9 through 11 reported driving unsupervised without a license. However, according to the national fatality data, a full 20 percent of 14- to 18-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2006 did not have a license. This means unlicensed teens are significantly over-represented in fatal crashes.

Teens who drive without a license are usually doing so because they are unable to obtain or sustain a license, yet they continue driving. The thing is, I would think it is very hard to figure out if a teen is driving without a license – unless it is your own teen, of course. But say your teen wants to ride home from school or the movies with a friend who does not have a license? How do we know? I had stopped asking this question mainly because my daughter’s friends all got to the age where they should be allowed to have friends in the car with them as they drive – our state has the rule of no friends in the car for 6-months. But after reading this I think it may be prudent to start asking again or I could add it to our parenting contract on teen driving.

What do you think? Will you be asking your teen if his/her friend has a license? What if they don’t and you know the teen is driving, would you report it? Share your thoughts, opinions and family stories in our comments area.

Related Resources:

• How To Set the Limits on Driving
• Statistics for fatal crashes involoving teen drivers
• Why does graduated driver licensing enhance motivation for safe driving?