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Education For Teenagers

December 23, 2011 Teenagers Education
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The downside of that is that it set us up for an adulthood that involved burgers, fries, pizza, etc., and that isn’t a good thing. Oh, an occasional treat is ok, but when it is a large part of our weekly menus, the pounds can start adding up. For this reason, it’s important to teach teenagers how to enjoy food that’s healthy, even if it comes from a fast food chain.

I learned a lot when I decided to try and undo all the damage this sort of “training” can involve. It wasn’t easy, but it is definitely doable. You can still enjoy normal teenage activities without the fat, cholesterol, pounds and so forth.

1) Do you *really* like the fries? I always ate fries because that’s what comes with a burger. Then I looked up the nutrition information on them and realized I don’t like them 500 calories worth. Nor do I like using my sodium allotment for two days on one packet. Unless you truly love this fried starch loaded with salt, you may want to skip them. I find apple slices a much tastier addition, and they have nutritional value, fiber and no fat or salt.

2) Parents, eat with your kids: Show them by example that there are good choices and that adults need to have the same consideration for their health. The rule of thumb is that your kids, especially teenagers, will do eighty percent of what you do right and one hundred percent of what you do wrong.

3) Learn how to choose: Most restaurants have nutrition information available on-line. Prior to going out with the gang, look up the menu of the place you are going and figure out in advance what is healthy and what is not. Most fast food chains are working on adding healthy options, so they are available.

4) Sodium difficulties: It may not seem like a big deal when you are a teen, but by the time you reach middle age, sodium is going to be a major consideration, especially if you don’t start watching it now. Read the nutrition labels and note it when you are looking it up on-line. It may seem like a small thing, but keep in mind that if you are healthy, the maximum amount you should consume is 2400 a day. If you’re not, it’s 1200 a day. You can see why the 500 mgs of sodium in the fries might be a deterrent.

5) Solving fat cravings: We all have them; it’s hardwired into our brains. We also actually need to consume some fat so that the fat soluble vitamins can be absorbed. What’s needed is to choose fat wisely. As an example, an avocado is a much better choice than bacon when considering a salad or sandwich. Both will satisfy the craving, but the avocado has unsaturated fat while the bacon is saturated.

If you are a teen and you are having difficulties figuring out how to remain healthy and still enjoy typical teenage activities, speak to your parents or your doctor. They may also suggest a nutritionist, who can help you navigate. Parents, it’s important that we step up to the plate and help your children learn how to eat well. This will help our kids have a long, healthy life.

Stop Teenage Gambling Education

December 23, 2011 Teenagers Education
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The new stream of commercials related to stop gambling has had very little affect. The commercials are geared towards helping people stop gambling but are not geared towards the individuals who have not experienced gambling at this point in time. The stop gambling commercials have not been able to reach the teenager with a compulsive gambling addiction. They however may reach the parents who may realize their child has a problem.

The only way to help our youth is to educate them in the classroom and at home. I remember years ago in health class they educated us on smoking and drinking. This was very effective on those individuals who never started. But the ones that were already addicted the educational programs were unable to reach them.

There following educational curriculums will be available to ship by August 2005 in order to give teachers the proper resource tools to deal with this growing problem:

a) Helpful Resources for identifying teenagers who may have a compulsive gambling addiction.

b) Helping Teenagers identify their compulsive gambling addiction

c) Educating teenagers on compulsive gambling addiction. This one is my favorite because this has the best opportunity to prevent a teenager from gambling, helping teenagers identify the signs of compulsive gambling addiction and if the teenager has a problem with gambling.

d) Giving Teenagers the tools to identify others who may have a gambling addiction like their parents. This one has to be handled sensitively. I have received numerous emails from teenagers who did not know where to go, who to talk to in order to help a family member.

e) Educating Teenagers on the resources available to get help by giving them the local stop gambling telephone numbers and helpful stop gambling websites.

f) Understanding Compulsive Gambling Addiction

g) Practical exercises for teenagers with addictions to learn about self esteem, trust and more.

The above educational curriculums are to be used as a guide for professionals who want to educate the teenage population. The curriculums were based on real life situations. It’s their goal to reach these students at the age where gambling is most likely to affect their future and to help teenagers who have a compulsive gambling addiction.

More educational information can be found at the website [http://www.teenage-gambling-addiction.org].

Teenagers that have been negatively affected by compulsive gambling addiction exhibit signs of self destructive behavior and an apathetic view towards school. By noticing the warning signs early, helps a teenager’s recovery to accelerate.

Parenting High School Teenagers

September 17, 2011 Teenagers Education
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As parents we cloister our kids and guide them through their early years of life and education, but once our kids hit high school, we expect them to take a more adult view of their learning. At the same time, we have only a rudimentary understanding of what the education system expects of them (at least initially) and compounding that, we have little understanding of the high school subjects our kids are being exposed to. Unlike primary school where reading, spelling, and maths were pretty easy, high school subjects are increasingly complex and often go beyond our own ability to provide our kids with advice and assistance. Because of this we consciously — or subconsciously — abrogate our responsibility as parents. We kind of hope high schools and teachers can pick up the slack and we hand over our responsibilities of our kids’ education to the ‘system’ – and that’s not good for our kids, and what is not good for our kids is not good for us.

All this occurs when our kids really need us the most. Not only must they deal with schools, teachers and education, the hormonal changes they are going through puts even further pressure on them.

Add to the mix issues over school friendships, boyfriend/girlfriend liaisons, the pressure of homework, bullying issues and pressure brought on by the increasing speed of computer and internet technologies — all of this can build to the ‘perfect storm’ affecting your child’s sense of self worth and identity. Anger and frustration boils over and parents are often in the firing line.

On the front-line of this battle, parents must take – or regain — control. As carers, it’s up to us to get our kids from the end of primary school to graduation from high school with sufficient academic ability to take on careers and other life’s challenges.

While it might seem patently obvious, overwhelmingly parents learn about what they’ve done right (or, painfully, what they’ve done wrong) during these years from the ‘school of hard knocks’ – and in that ‘school’, there are few, if any, text-books.

As parents of two kids who have gone through this, we decided to cast a light on the process to give some advice to other parents who are at the beginning of the high school path, help for those who maybe part way through it — and solace to ‘shell-shocked’ parents whose kids may have recently graduated. In these often grinding, unforgiving years, we believe the better-armed you are to make strategic decisions now will help you better understand and help your kids, and give you an opportunity to take a deep breath and soldier on knowing you are not alone.

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