How to Make a Safe Teen Driver

With graduation and summer around the corner, AAA and Volvo want to make sure that parents speak to their kids about safe driving habits. According to research from the AAA Foundation seven of the 10 deadliest days of the year for teens fall between the holidays Memorial Day and Labor Day. July and August are [...]

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Why Teens Think It’s Cool to be Rude

Have you ever observed your teen being rude to a peer or another adult, and wondered, “Where did they learn that behavior?” Does being “rude” equal being “cool?” This theory was tested by a study performed in 2011 by scientists from the University of Amsterdam. “Breaking the Rules to Rise to Power: How Norm Violators Gain [...]

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Spring Fever or Loss of Motivation: How to Help Your Underachieving Teen

By Jennifer Jones, LCSW, Site Director, Palo Alto High School It’s that time of year; the long winter is over, trees are blossoming, the temperature is warming, and we all want to go to the beach instead of to work.  That’s why Spring Break was invented.  But what if a week of vacation doesn’t revive [...]

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Helping Teens as They Look into the Future

by Martha Chan, M.A., LMFT, Site Director for Terman Middle School and parent of Gunn High School graduates, class of ’99 and class of ’03 I want to carry forward some of the resilience concepts that my colleague, Chris Chiochios, wrote about in an earlier newsletter: accepting our children for who they are and helping them to [...]

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Your Kids May Be Tweeting

In the United States alone Facebook.com has over 155 million users, with the largest percentage represented by the 25-34 age group.  This may be why more and more teens are also beginning to use Twitter.com. According to a survey conducted in July 2011 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 12- to 17-year olds [...]

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How Can Parents Positively Affect Their Teens Self-Image

A really great website for parents and teens is Radical Parenting which has “parenting advice written by teens.” One of the resources this site provides is a licensed psychologist, Dr. Allison Agliata, who is an onsite school counselor in Florida. She writes a Q&A section for the website and from time to time provides articles. [...]

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Everything You Wanted To Say To Your Middle Schooler, But Didn’t Know How-Part V Conclusion

By: Philippe Rey, Psy.D. Executive Director of Adolescent Counseling Services Concluding our conversation about middle schoolers, and how to better prepare your child and yourself for this period of life; let us look at other topics of conversation that might be awkward or difficult to address: –        Music –        Depression and Suicide –        Tattoos –        [...]

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Menlo-Atherton Parent Education Series

Make sure to mark your calendars for this Thursday, February 2nd at 7pm the Menlo-Atherton Parent Education Series will be holding a panel on Teen Sexuality: Get the Facts (What Every Parent Wants to Know). Where:Menlo Atherton Center for the Performing Arts (PAC) located on the Menlo-Atherton High School campus. Come hear from the experts! [...]

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New Study Shows Decrease in Mid-schooler Problem Behaviours When Parents are Given Guidance Before the Child Enters Middle-schoosl

At Adolescent Counseling Services, one of our key philosophies is that when the entire family is involved in resolving an issue faced by an adolescent, the outcome is positive and lasting. A recent study published in the February 2012  Journal of Adolescent Health put this theory to test. The study“Engaging Parents in the Family Check-Up [...]

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As Teen Job Market Suffers, So Do Teens

For many teens, their first dose of personal responsibility comes when they get their first job. The benefit of having a job, for a teen, is not just a monetary one; a job can open up new social circles, bolster self-esteem and create a sense of purpose. Most times a job outside of the home [...]

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