The use of e-cigarettesācalled āvapingāāseems like a mystery. There are no PSAs about this, and information seems a little scarce about whether or not these little smoky contraptions are dangerous, possibly dangerous, safe or unknown.
Anne Blankenbiller
Taking Advantage of Fleeting Family Time
I am a planner. I know what our family is having for supper for the next seven days, what I am buying for Christmas gifts, where we are going on vacation the first week of June and what laundry I will do each day of the week.
Have You Heard of Catfishing?
If you are the parent of a teen, you need to know about it. A few weeks ago, my 15-year-old daughter said to me, āMom, Iām watching a TV show that I think you would like. Itās called Catfish.ā My response: āWhy are you watching a fishing show?ā
Itās Time to Think About Colleges
If you have a junior in high school, itās time to start seriously thinking about colleges. Yes, Iām serious. It isnāt like it used to be when we parents were younger and started thinking about what colleges we were interested in around Christmas time of our senior year.
Teaching Your Kids to Lose With Character
Fall sports season has arrived, which means parents will be settling into bleachers, hauling collapsible canvas chairs across soccer and softball fields and racing across wooded trails at cross country meetsāall to watch their offspring compete.
Help Your Teens Avoid Social Media Oversharing
Recently, Iāve noticed my girls being more and more annoyed (and even sympathetic) for teens who seem to always overshare online, mostly through Twitter and Instagram.
The Blessing of Quality Patient Care for Worried Parents
If there’s anything parents are instinctively good at, it’s worrying. Before our babies are even born, we’re experts and can think of infinite things to worry about.
Helping Your Teen Learn How to Manage Money
My two teenagers recently received postcards in the mail from our bank. The cards offered special checking accounts with a $50 bonus and trendy debit card designs. Yikes. I still like to keep track of my kidsā Christmas gift checks, and I canāt imagine them carrying around their own checkbooks or debit cards.
The Awkward Phone Call
About a year ago, my freshman daughter told me that a friend of hers (who happened to be a boy) had invited her over to his house on a Saturday night along with a handful of other freshmen kids to āhang out.ā