by Virginia Guard Public Affairs

by suesviews

by Tomi Tapio

chocolatecake248 asked:


this is for future reference.
kids generally at 4 tend to become bratty. like they would cry or in this case pretend to cry if they dont get what they want. and i **** that.
when i try to comfort them, they would start crying more. they only listen to adults, such as uncles, aunts, parents. not teenagers. its kinda frustrating isnt it??
i dont wanna yell at them or ***** them, its just confusing. and frustrating. what should i do?

joyce s asked:


Parents have paid for their needs until graduation. 18 is too young to go to war for the same reasons. The laws have to be changed. These are kids NOT adults. Why can’t they drink then legally?

john asked:


Hi, I’m a young teenage filmmaker in need of help. I’ve recently decided to film another picture, but there is nowhere for me to get at least remotely talented adult actors. I know some other teens that are good at acting, but all of the roles are for adults. Is there any technique that you know of that can make someone seem older?
I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks!

arkiemom asked:


I have teenage step-children ages 17 and 19. We have always gotten along very well – in fact they have treated me better than their own mother. They live out of state with their mother but visit 3-4 times a year. That is until this year. The 19 year old is in college and never writes, calls, or answers her e-mails because as she puts it – she is “too busy”. My step-son has changed drastically in the last 6 months. He is skipping school, stealing from his mother, and staying out all night with friends. I am pretty sure drugs are involved. Neither visited us for Christmas this year and didn’t even call their dad to wish him Merry Christmas or to thank us for the gifts we sent. I am very hurt by their selfish behavior. I didn’t go through this with my daughter so I have no experience dealing with this type of behavior. Any advice out there from other parents or teenagers? At this point we are ready to give up on them and call it quits with the calls, e-mails, and extra money we send.
Also – their dad has had four surgeries this past year with another coming up next month. Neither called to see how he was doing for any of them – even after the emergency one he had last month from complications. He literally could have died had we not gotten to the hospital in time. You would think that would be enough to warrant a phone call. FYI – they are treating their own mother the same way if not worse. It is just so strange. I am at a loss.
We are communicating regularly with mom and my husband is on top of the 17 year old’s problems. It does complicate things that they are 900 miles away and frequent visits are out of the question due to jobs, money, and health issues.The thing is – like all people into drugs or things they shouldn’t be – my step-son says exactly what he knows the adults in his life want to hear. He has learned to play the game. Also – the divorce was 13 years ago and it was due to their mother cheating. I didn’t come along until a year later – so that’s not a factor.

I love my baby girl! asked:


Why dont parents or adults believe teenagers now a days when we say were in love? This is a new day and age. I love my gf and im 17.

Our teenagers’ lives are often a closed book to us and no matter how hard we try they simply will not let us open the book and read what is inside. But how are we supposed to protect out children and help them to develop into self-sufficient and confident adults if we do not know what they are doing, where they are going, who they are hanging out with, what they are thinking and how they are feeling?

Well, here are four tips that might help to open that closed book at least enough to take a glimpse inside.

Tip 1 – Start when your kids are young. It is much easier to keep a relationship rolling along than it is to start it up in the first place and this is especially true when it comes to our kids. If we start literally from the day they are born and build a close and strong relationship then life will be fairly easy when they reach those difficult teenage years. However, if we maintain our distance from our kids, or simply do not have time to get close to them, when they are young then it is going to become increasingly difficult to do so as they get older.

Tip 2 – Look for common ground. We all have things which we like to do on our own or without our partner and one partner might enjoy playing bridge with friends while the other is out playing golf or fishing. But, it is also important for partners to share interests and to have some things, such as cooking, gardening or hiking which they enjoy doing together. This is not simply true of partners and should also extend to parents and children. So, find something, and preferably two or three things, which you and your kids can enjoy together and which gives you a common interest to talk about.

Tip 3 – Listen to what your children say and keep an open mind. The teenage years are a time when children tend to form opinions very quickly and often without an adequate understanding of the subject to hand. This in turn means that they will often come out with comments which you find concerning or which you simply do not like or agree with. Take the time however to listen to what they have to say and try not to be judgmental. There is nothing wrong with telling them that do not agree with them or do not approve of something as long as you explain why and do not turn what you are saying into an attack on them.

Tip 4 – Spend time with your children. One of the main concerns for most teenagers is that they do not get to spend enough time with their parents and this is often seen as a case of their parents simply not caring enough about what they are doing or how they are feeling. One significant result of this is that teenagers also often feel that they cannot talk to their parents when they have a problem and want some help.

Many of us lead busy lives but were we talking about a client instead of our own child you can bet your bottom dollar that we would make the time needed to spend with that client. Well, our children are far more important than any client and so it should not really be too difficult to set aside some time each day, or at the very least each week, to devote ourselves solely to each of our children for a while.

There are many ways to make sure that we are spending enough time with our kids and often it is simply a matter of organizing ourselves for efficiently. One simple way to achieve our aims is to make sure that the whole family sits down to dinner each evening and that this is a time to both eat and talk. Another way to spend time with your teen is to drive him to school each morning rather than let him ride the bus. Yet another suggestion is to play sport together once or twice a week. There are countless ways to make time for your teenagers if you put your mind to it.



By: Donald Saunders

About the Author:

53infear asked:

ShortWayTo.com Does your child often: – lose his temper – argue with adults – refuse to comply with rules and requests – deliberately annoy people – blame others for his mistakes and misbehavior Is your child often: – touchy and easily annoyed by others… … troubled teens teen oppositional defiant disorder problem help parenting teenagers trouble programs teenager discipline teenage angry control rebellious violent difficult struggling program