Parenting Teens

Do you know anything about the dropout rate in your local school system? Do you have a daughter who may be in danger of dropping out of high school?

The National Women’s Law Center has a new report titled When Girls Don’t Graduate, We All Fail: A Call To Improve High School Graduation Rates for Girls

The statistics truly are alarming. The report states that 1,000 high school students drop out of school each hour in America. This means that 30% of the class of 2007, or 1.2 million students are estimated to have dropped out of school last year.

Also according to the report, one in three boys, and nearly 50% of some racial and ethnic groups will not graduate with a diploma in four years of high school. Among girls, one in four overall will not graduate from high school. One in two Native American girls will not graduate; four in ten African-American girls, and nearly four in ten Hispanic girls do not graduate each year.

The study gives the following recommendations for dealing with dropout prevention:

* Combating sexual harassment in schools. Both boys and girls report that they drop out in part because they do not feel safe at school. Download a fact sheet on sexual harassment for schools or for students.
* Providing better support for pregnant and parenting students. Pregnancy and parenting responsibilities play a significant role in many girls’ decisions to drop out of school.
* Ensuring equal access for girls to career and technical education classes. These classes provide training for high-skill, high-wage jobs. Offering career education programs that emphasize the link between academic work, college success, and careers has been proven to reduce dropout rates.
* Ensuring equal access for girls to after-school programs, including athletics programs. Studies have shown that participation in after-school programs improves graduation rates and academic achievement.

Do you know anything about the dropout rate in your local schools? Even if you don’t have teens at risk of dropping out, you should be concerned. We’re raising the generation who will, one day, be in charge of things and, hopefully, taking care of us!

Volunteer to help in efforts to curb dropout rates. Our teens and the rest of society will be better for it.

For more on parenting, see Parenting The Adopted.

teens, teenagers, high school, high school dropouts, school dropouts, dropping out of school, graduation rates, high school graduation rates, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

Are your teen’s teachers male or female? Does that question ever come up for you? Do you consider whether your student is getting good role models from both sexes?

Nationally, the number of male teachers in classrooms is declining, especially in elementary schools. According to Scholastic,
in 1980 about 17 percent of teachers in elementary school classrooms were male, compared with 14.2 percent today. In secondary schools, the number of men in classrooms has dropped from just over 50 percent in 1980 to less than 40 percent today.

The National Education Association (NEA) puts the percentage of male teachers nationwide at a 40 year low. And, according to NEA president Reg Weaver, the scarcity of male teachers is unfortunate, given the high divorce rate and men increasingly absent from the home. He says that male teachers are increasingly needed as role models for children.

“…one of the reasons colleges of education find it difficult to attract men into the profession (is) because of the outdated notion that teaching is a woman’s profession,” Weaver said. “And that could not be further from the truth.” The perception of teaching as a woman’s profession is still there, as is the reality of low pay and men needing to be breadwinners. However, more reasons than those are also part of the decline.

According to Steve Peha, president of Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc., other factors are more important. Many male teachers go into administrative positions to be more upwardly mobile. Others may not like being one of the few male teachers in a school, where they experience loneliness. And many feel threatened in a society where parents are likely to bring sexual misconduct charges at the drop of a hat. “I’ve had plenty of principals admit to me in private that they just don’t want to deal with men in the primary grades at all,” Peha says. “It’s not prejudice, it’s politics. They know that women in those positions will be more readily accepted by parents.”

It’s our children who lose because of these attitudes, most especially, perhaps, the boys. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2006, 12.9 million households were headed by single parents, with 10.4 million of those headed by single mothers. Boys need role models in a society where men may increasingly be absent from the household on a full-time basis.

As a single mother who raised a daughter alone for several years, I can also attest to the fact that girls need good male role models. My daughter had the best in my father and my brother, but I also appreciated the male teachers that she did have in her elementary school years, and I continue to be grateful to the positive male role models in her high school.

This is an issue to think about, as well as to encourage young men who have an interest in teaching to pursue that interest. Male teachers are in high demand, and there is a very real service that they provide-not just by being teachers, but by being role models for those who need them.

For information on homeschooling, visit Mom Is Teaching

teens, teenagers, students, teachers, male teachers, teaching, elementary school, high school, middle school, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

I’m really on my soapbox this morning, so I just have to blog about it! I found this article online at the Athens Banner-Herald, a local paper here in Georgia. Apparently, parents of kids at Malcolm Bridge Elementary School in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, are up in arms over their children seeing a video with a scene depicting childbirth.

The show is a 1997 episode of “Reading Rainbow” called “On The Day You Were Born.” According to the article, teachers have been showing this video every year since it was aired in 1997. It is part of the school’s approved curriculum. The video is part of a section of lessons on family changes, and depicts a real family of five dealing with the expected birth of a new child.

I haven’t seen the video, but the article describes the controversial(!) scene as real, and not a dramatization. The mother is shown from the side dressed in a hospital gown, and no private parts are revealed. Following the birth, the doctor holds up the newborn for the camera.

Some parents were outraged that their children had been shown this video. One mother called it “disgusting” and thought that parents should have been notified that it would be shown. The teachers who showed the video wrote a letter home to the parents, apologizing for any issues it had caused.

What is wrong with these people?! Since when is childbirth disgusting? I’m the proud mom of a 17-year-old. I remember her birth as though it were yesterday. There was nothing disgusting about it. I’ll grant you, there were moments in there when I wasn’t exactly having fun, but I certainly didn’t find it repulsive. And just look what I have to show for it!

I’m genuinely amazed by the attitudes of some people. What kind of examples are we setting for our children by making so much fuss over something which is a normal, natural part of life? I wonder what that mom will say if her child asks if she found his/her birth “disgusting?”

I realize this has nothing in particular to do with teenagers, but I’ve seen parents of teens with the same strait-laced attitudes. Let’s lighten up here, people!

For more on younger children, go to
Parenting Children

parenting, childbirth, school curriculum, sex education, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

College costs in danger of interfering with your teenager’s education? There’s lots of information out there about applying for federal financial aid, but there are plenty of other ways to get money and to save money on college costs. Here’s a few of them.

1. Out-of-state or in-state? In-state reciprocity is a deal whereby states agree to let their residents attend college at participating schools in other states at reduced rates. If your prospective student is interested in college in a nearby state, check with the school to see if this is a possibility, and if your student might qualify. You can also check with your state education department. Check at ed.gov/about/contacts/state to get help.

2. A financial aid decision can be appealed. Has your teen been denied for federal financial aid, or given too little? If financial pressures such as medical disability, a job status change, etc., have come up since aid was first applied for, some schools will review their decision on how much aid a student was given. If you do appeal, be prepared. Make an appointment with a financial aid officer, and get copies of financial statements, medical records, expense records, or anything else the financial aid office asks for, promptly.

3. Community service pays. Volunteer organizations connected with AmeriCorps will help pay for college if a student volunteers with them. Recent high school and college grads can work as a teacher, home builder, or community organizer. Americorps will give a student up to $4, 725 per year toward tuition, in return for a year of service. See their website for more information.

4. Private schools aren’t necessarily more expensive. Many private schools hand out more financial aid than their public counterparts. You might actually end up spending less on a private school.

5. Try CLEPping some classes. High scores on the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams can allow you to get credit for classes on some basic required courses. Check with the college admissions office to see if you might qualify. Some colleges also give credit for advanced placement classes taken in high school.

6. Save hundreds with used textbooks. The cost of new textbooks is at an all-time high. Books for a single semester of college work can now cost in the hundreds. If the book your teen needs isn’t a new edition of an earlier textbook, buying used is the way to go. Some even find that information highlighted by students who previously used the book can come in handy, especially if they were good students!

There are all kinds of ways to get and save money for college. Sit down and brainstorm with your teenager on how they can save and you can help!

Check out the information on other parenting sites:

Mom Is Teaching
Parenting and Religion

teens, teenagers, college, financial aid, universities, private colleges, public colleges, college financial aid, parenting, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

Currently at issue in the state of Georgia, and in the county school system in our home county, is whether to require that all high school students earn the same diploma. Currently, our high schools have a “tiered” diploma system. Students who aren’t planning to attend a four-year college can graduate from high school with fewer math and science courses than their college-bound peers, and without taking a foreign language.

Our local paper wrote an excellent editorial supporting one diploma, rather than the tiered system, in which students can earn either a vocational-technical diploma, or a college-prep diploma. Students can also earn a dual seal(both diplomas) by taking the right course work. There are other voices on both sides of the argument.

Those include the voices of local educators (teachers and principals), and of parents and local citizens. Supporters of the dual diplomas believe that the option of earning a vocational-technical diploma, with less-rigorous educational requirements, prevents dropping out of school for many students who might otherwise do so. Supporters of the one diploma system believe that it is discriminatory toward some of the students and, also, that it would make streamline the high school system.

Personally, I fall on the side of supporting one diploma. Simply put, one diploma assures that all students graduate from high school with an equal education, and with equal educational opportunities in life, after high school.

We should educate with the idea in mind that all students are going out into the same world. The fact that they choose to pursue careers with different educational requirements is not an issue for educators at the high school level. Most high schools, whether public or private, do not educate students for a career. That is for college-level education, regardless of whether that is a four-year college or a vocational-technical school.

All students should go into the world beyond high school with the best possible education that can be provided for them. In today’s high-tech world, math and science are more necessary than ever, regardless of the type of career one chooses. And since we live in an increasingly more global society, foreign languages are also necessary, not just on a career level, but in our personal lives.

Do the high schools in your area provide different diploma options for students? I’d love to hear from any of you viewing this blog about the diploma system in your area, and your thoughts on whether a one-diploma system is the best system.

teens, teenagers, high school, diploma, graduation, high school diploma, high school graduation, education, math, science, foreign languages, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

I used the picture above only because I couldn’t find anything dealing with the expenses of juniors, or with high school expenses in general-but whew! Do you sometimes feel your middle or high school age teen is bankrupting you? My daughter’s a junior this year, and we’ve never put out so much money in our lives!

First, as she’s a member of the marching band, we had to lay out $150.00 in band fees, as well as buying shoes, gloves, etc. Then, there’s the expense involved with the upkeep of her clarinet (we won’t go into what we paid for it three years ago), and what seems to be the almost constant buying of reeds for it. Then, as the marching band appears at all the football games, there’s the expense of buying two tickets for each home game for myself and her dad (we rarely go to away games, mainly to save money!). Then there’s the annual band trip, which will be to Disney World next spring, and which involves the outlay of several hundred dollars more. And none of this includes upkeep or anything else involving her bass guitar, which she plays in our church band and in jazz band at school, once the marching season’s over.

But enough about instruments. There’s still plenty of other expenses. She’s also on the academic team and the math team. Upcoming overnight trips for these two teams to compete will involve at least spending money, and some of the money for the travel expenses as well, since these teams don’t receive enough money from the school system to pay expenses. The jury’s still out on how much we will put into these two activities by the end of the school year.

On top of everything else, her academic team adviser is putting together a student trip to Germany, which will take place at the end of the school year, but we have to start making monthly payments of about $250.00 a month on it now. No, this trip isn’t absolutely necessary, but we’re determined to send her. She’s had several invitations to go on overseas trips since starting high school, but we haven’t been able to afford them and we’re determined to send her on this one.

Oh, yeah, then there’s the upcoming homecoming dance for which she’ll need a dress, shoes, and her hair and nails done! Then, in the spring will be her prom-involving another outlay of precious cash for finery. And, lest I forget, she came home yesterday with the news that she needs to buy her class ring this year-in order to get her cap and gown for next year’s graduation free.

And her birthday’s almost here, which involves a party, not to mention gifts! It’s a good thing she’ll be getting that cap and gown free next year! Her prom date for next year can plan to pick her up at the poorhouse! It’s where we’ll be living by the time her junior year is over!

teens, teenagers, school expenses, high school juniors, high school seniors, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

Opening this fall in Atlanta, Georgia, is a unique new middle school-The Ron Clark Academy. Undoubtedly, many of you know of Ron Clark from the Emmy-nominated TV movie, in which Matthew Perry played Clark. Ron Clark became known for his wacky personality and unique brand of teaching. His ability to take students others had given up on and turn them into motivated and accomplished students is excellent. Now, Clark is putting his personality and teaching abilities into a middle school which will be like no other.

Using proceeds from his New York Times best-selling book The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator’s Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child, along with corporate sponsorship and donations, Ron Clark and Atlanta teacher Kim Bearden founded the Ron Clark Academy, a private middle school serving 5th-8th graders in a low-income neighborhood in Atlanta. Tuition is based on ability to pay, and ranges from $30 a month to $14,000 a year.

The curriculum is based on the academic requirements according to the state of Georgia’s course of study, but will use many interesting and dynamic methods to teach this curriculum, and will also offer students the opportunity to learn and be involved in photography, dance, music production, the art of design, dramatic performance, and business leadership. The students will travel to six continents before they reach high school.

The school has a two-story, indoor slide in the atrium. It’s features include, mounted flat-screen TV’s, graffiti art on the walls, and a secret passageway leading to Clark’s classroom. But one of the best features about this academy will be that it will offer other teachers worldwide the opportunity to learn the unique teaching techniques which Ron Clark and the other teachers will use in the classroom. Successful techniques, which have been proven to work with even some of the most difficult students.

Learn more about this unique school by visiting the above website. Perhaps, one day, all of our ‘tweens and teens will be lucky enough to attend schools which offer so many opportunities, and so much learning!

teens, teenagers, ‘tweens, Ron Clark, Ron Clark Academy, private schools, middle school, teachers, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

As a parent, do you do everything possible to assist in your teen’s education? Do you participate in school activities and parent organizations? Do you attend parent/teacher conferences and accept suggestions about what you can do to help in seeing that your teen gets the best education possible?

Teachers (and many parents) have long been concerned that parents are not involved enough when it comes to their children’s education-particularly in high school. The National PTA has a list of ten things that teachers most wish parents would do to become involved.

* Be involved. Parent involvement helps students learn, improves schools, and helps teachers work with you to help your children succeed.

* Provide resources at home for learning. Utilize your local library, and have books and magazines available in your home. Read with your children each day.

* Set a good example. Show your children by your own actions that you believe reading is both enjoyable and useful. Monitor television viewing and the use of videos and game systems.

* Encourage students to do their best in school. Show your children that you believe education is important and that you want them to do their best.

* Value education and seek a balance between schoolwork and outside activities. Emphasize your children’s progress in developing the knowledge and skills they need to be successful both in school and in life.

* Recognize factors that take a toll on students’ classroom performance:
1. Consider the possible negative effects of long hours at after-school jobs or in extracurricular activities. Work with your children to help them maintain a balance between school responsibilities and outside commitments.
2. View drinking and excessive partying as serious matters. While most parents are concerned about drug abuse, many fail to recognize that alcohol, over-the-counter drugs, and common substances used as inhalants are more frequently abused than illegal drugs.

* Support school rules and goals. Take care not to undermine school rules, discipline, or goals.

* Use pressure positively. Encourage children to do their best, but don’t pressure them by setting goals too high or by scheduling too many activities.

* Call teachers early if you think there’s a problem while there is still time to solve it. Don’t wait for teachers to call you.

* Accept your responsibility as parents. Don’t expect the school and teachers to take over your obligations as parents. Teach children self-discipline and respect for others at home — don’t rely on teachers and schools to teach these basic behaviors and attitudes.

Do you do these things, or at least some of them? Do you feel you’re involved enough in your teen’s schooling and eduction? Read over these suggestions carefully and start doing at least one that you’re not doing now. Your child will benefit, and so will you!

teens, teenagers, education, parent involvement in education, parent involvement in school, parenting teens, parenting teenagers, parenting

Today, I’m running a guest post by none other than my 16-year-old daughter, who has written about easing the college application process! She’s going through some of the stages of this herself, and after slogging through lots of information, she thought she could point out some useful tips. Some of her information came from College Net, which can be a very useful site when putting in those college applications! Both my daughter and I, hope you find something useful here for yourself and your teen!

Between keeping your grades up and worrying about college applications, senior year can be hectic. Throw financial aid and scholarship applications in the mix, and things can get downright scary! However, with a little planning and research, getting ready for college can be much easier.

When a block of unused time finally rolls around, use it to research some of the colleges and universities in which you have had some interest. Look up information on campus life, and use resources like the Princeton Review to see what current students have to say about their professors, the food, and the curriculum. When you find a school that seems like a good fit, look at their admissions factors. For instance, at Georgia Tech, the average high school GPA is currently 3.71 (on a 4.0 scale), and the middle 50th percentile of combined SAT scores (Critical Reading and Math) ranges from 1260 to 1390.

Once you have decided on a small handful of schools to which you would like to apply, request applications from those schools. Alternatively, fill out the Common Application, which can be used at hundreds of colleges across the country. Take note of any other requirements on your application, such as essays, letters of recommendation, and a copy of your high school transcript. Take special note of the application deadline, and put that date everywhere you need to in order to send your application on time.

Once you have your name, birth date, and other basic information on the application, it gets a little harder. The application essay can often seem like the most difficult part of applying to college. Instead of grabbing a cup of coffee and planning an all night session to get the perfect essay, relax. Before you concentrate on the actual question, brainstorm topics, such as positive qualities you would like to point out to the admissions committee. Once you decide on your topic, start writing a rough draft of the message you would like to convey in your essay. Finally, look at the question on the application. Add or take away information to make your rough draft fit the question.

Even though many of us have heard this information constantly for some time now, fully understanding it can be very useful to students who will soon be entering college. A knowledge of how to handle applying to college can allow you to keep your current grades up, since many colleges still look at transcripts even from senior year, and have an advantage over other students in the application pool. Submitting all required materials can expedite the process so that you can relax, get your application in before the deadline, and possibly receive your decision letter early.

Armed with this information, and a blue or black pen, getting through all those college applications should be easy. Remember to give yourself some time to complete the applications, so that you won’t be stressing to get six applications finished in one weekend. Relax, and try not to let college get in the way of what little bit of high school is left. Don’t forget to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, and applying to college shouldn’t be any harder than that research paper for biology.

teens, teenagers, college applications, applying to college, College Net, high school seniors, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

High school is so much more complicated now than when I was a teenager! My 16-year-old daughter begins her junior year this Monday, August 13. Of course, things really got started about three weeks ago, when she received her schedule for the upcoming year. Almost none of the classes were classes that she had requested.

This past spring, she had spent a couple of weeks working out her schedule for the coming year. She had talked with her teachers, her counselor, counselors at a couple of the colleges she’s interested in attending-she had really covered all the bases! I was proud of all the work she had put into it. Then, the official schedule arrived in the mail. It was all wrong!

Both she and I spent another couple of weeks talking with teachers and her counselor again. Turns out, her schedule had been mixed up with that of another girl, who has the same first name, and whose last name has the same three first letters. Getting it straightened out was a nightmare! But we finally had it.

Then, for the past two weeks, she had band camp for marching band. The school has a new band director. There was a new camp schedule, new music to be learned, new rules to learn and follow, etc. Then, the weather threw its two-cents-worth into the mix, gifting us with record high temperatures. The band was unable to practice on the football field, where they needed to be, which necessitated more schedule changes-resulting in drop-off and pick-up times which threw our carefully worked out schedule into more disarray.

Finally, we had made it through these last three weeks, exhausted and with our minds reeling from all the changes. Last night was open house, when we were able to meet her teachers. First, there was a general assembly with the principal introducing himself and new teachers. Then, there was an amusing little play by the school theater group, detailing the major policies of the school-dress code, no food and drink in the classrooms, no cell phones, no MP3 players, etc.

After assembly,we fought our way through the mob to get a copy of her final schedule, and then to go meet her teachers. The schedule was still wrong! So, we were off to the counselor’s office, where she made a couple of final (hopefully!) changes to my daughter’s schedule. We then met her teachers, who all seem to be nice and helpful, thank goodness!

This semester, my daughter’s taking Advanced Band, Advanced Physics, Advanced American Literature, and Trigonometry. After the past three weeks, that schedule should be a breeze!

teens, teenagers, back-to-school, high school, school schedules, education, high school courses, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

The House debates today on funding for abstinence education programs, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Abstinence programs across the country, such as Virginity Rules received their first cut in financing since 2001, this past June. So far, $176 million in funding has survived, up to the debates today. Will that funding be cut further?

There are some 700 abstinence education programs across the country. Eleven state health departments rejected abstinence education this year, while three states passed laws that could affect abstinence education in schools. This past spring, a comprehensive study of abstinence education programs found no sign that it delays sexual activity among teens. According to this article, however, teens are abstaining from sex more, and using contraceptives when they do not abstain.

Through a combination of less sex and more contraception, pregnancy and birth rates among American teenagers as a whole have been falling since about 1991. Texas, however, has seen the smallest decline despite receiving almost $17 million to promote abstinence.

I, personally, have no problem with abstinence being taught. However, I do believe that it should be taught alongside use of contraceptives, and other alternatives. How do you readers feel? Do you think abstinence education works, and should it be funded by the federal government?

teens, teenagers, abstinence, abstinence education, teen abstinence, sex education, teen sex education, parenting, parenting teens, parenting teenagers

I’m very happy to announce that Parenting Teens now has parenting forums! I’ve been working on these forums for a while now(amongst other writing chores), and they are now ready for the general public!

Although they are administered by me through the Parenting Teens blog, they are not just for parents of teens. There are categories available for parents who have children of every age-baby through college age. There are also Just For Moms and Just For Dads categories, as well as areas for different types of families and for school issues.

These forums are something I have long wanted to do, and I am very excited about them! You can access the forums at any time by using the link in the “About” box just to the right of this blog, or by going to http://www.parentingteensblog.com/forums/ . So, please, drop by the forums, register, and return often to chat with other parents about parent and child issues. See you there!

parent forums, parenting forums, parents, parenting, moms, dads, children, kids

The New York Times, as well as most other news outlets is reporting on yesterdays Supreme Court vote on the use of race in helping to integrate schools. The following is an excerpt from the New York Times article:

With competing blocs of justices claiming the mantle of Brown v. Board of Education, a bitterly divided Supreme Court declared Thursday that public school systems cannot seek to achieve or maintain integration through measures that take explicit account of a student’s race.

Voting 5 to 4, the court, in an opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., invalidated programs in Seattle and metropolitan Louisville, Ky., that sought to maintain school-by-school diversity by limiting transfers on the basis of race or using race as a “tiebreaker” for admission to particular schools.

I’m divided on this issue. I can see both sides of the coin. I feel that the use of race in making these decisions is wrong. Yet, as a parent, I believe that attending schools with diverse racial populations better prepares children for life in the real world.

I’d like to hear from readers on this one. How do you feel about the Supreme Court decision? How do you feel that the use of race in making school attendance decisions affects your teens and younger children?

race, Supreme Court, schools, education, racial issues, Brown v. Board of Education, New York Times

When our children are elementary age and younger, most of us meet their teachers and other school personnel. There are usually a certain number of required parent-teacher conferences, school events, etc., which we attend. Also, when our kids are at those ages, we worry about how they are being treated, and if they are being protected from bullies, etc.

Throughout my daughter’s school career, though, I have noticed that a certain number of parents do not meet, or maintain a working relationship with, their children’s teachers-beginning in middle school and through high school. Getting to know your teen’s teachers is just as important at these grade levels. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Maintaining grades-older children are less likely to share their grades and progress with you, particularly
if the news is bad. Being in touch with a teacher via phone or email allows you to keep on top of any
problems they may be having, and to help deal with them if tutoring or more study time is needed.

2. Discipline problems-Again, teens are less likely to share any problems they may be having at school
with their parents. Whether a discipline problem is with your teen, or another teen who is
bullying or bothering your child, you need to be informed. When you can talk with teachers, principals,
or counselors about these things, you can be there to help your teen deal with them.

3. Career choices-High school students are on the verge of discovering what they will be doing with their
lives after school, whether it be work, college, the military, etc. Communicating with teachers and
counselors can give you a great deal of information about your teen’s interests and abilities. It can
give you valuable insight into helping your child make decisions that are right for them.

4. Getting to know your teen-Your child is changing fast and growing into an adult. Having other adults
discuss their impressions and insights about your teenager can help you get to know this maturing
maturing person that you have raised. You can appreciate things about your teen that you might not
have noticed yourself. The knowledge that teachers and other school personnel have about your teen
can help you transition from a strictly parental role in your child’s life to having a more adult relation-
ship with him or her.

These are a few reasons to continue having good parent/teacher relationships with your teen’s teachers. Make time to become acquainted with your teenager’s teachers, counselors, and principals. Find out contact information about them (phone numbers, email addresses), so that you can periodically ask how
your child is doing. There are many valuable reasons to do so.

teens, teenagers, tweens, school, high school, middle school, teachers, counselors, principals

My plans to do college tips got somewhat offtrack but, hopefully, I can still get in a few useful tips for those of you who have teens going off to college for the first time! Today’s tip is about dorm life. Remember good old dorm life?! If you’ve never lived in a dorm (or if it’s been so long you’ve forgotten about it!), share the following with your teen. Also, check out the College page of the Love To Know site. This site has lots more great tips on college life, so be sure to check it out.

Many colleges now require freshmen to live in a dorm room for their first year. It can make it much easier to get acclimated to college life, and is often closer to classes, the library, dining hall, etc., than living off-campus.

One of the first things that many students must get used to is sharing a room. For many teens, college may be the first time in their lives that they’ve had to share a room with someone else. Most dorm rooms these days are set up in one of two ways:

The old standard room for two, featuring two of everything-beds, desks, closets, etc. The room may have a private bath, or a shared bath for all the dorm rooms on a particular floor.

The suite, which generally has two bedrooms housing two students each, with a shared bath and living area. This means that, while a teen will be sharing the bedroom with one other student, the bath and living area will be shared among four students.

Generally, unless a student is rooming with someone he or she knows, they will receive their roommate’s name, address and phone number during the summer. This can give them a chance to get to know one another a little over the phone, as well as discussing whether some items in their room can be shared-such as a microwave, refrigerator, TV, etc. Space in a dorm room is usually at a premium, so if some items can be shared, it will save room for both of them.

Speaking of space, there’s never enough of it! Urge your student to take the least amount of stuff they can live with, at least for the first few weeks. They may need to get a little more organized and creative-with storage containers, closet organizers, under-bed storage, etc. If it all possible, visit the dorm room the summer before college begins. Check out closets, desks, drawer space, etc., and take measurements. This can give you and your student a chance to explore storage options and find out just how much stuff they can accomodate. If the school allows it, building a loft is always an option to create more space.

The dorm will most likely have a Resident Assistant(RA), who is in charge of the dorm floor. The RA serves as a mentor and a resource to the students, helping them with any questions they may have about the dorm, or about college life in general. The RA also serves as a monitor, helping to keep the peace by issuing citations for things like noise violations. The RA will also call floor meetings and plan floor events, which can be fun ways to get to know the other dorm residents. Let your teen know that they should not be hesitant to go to their RA with questions or problems.

With security an ever-present issue, most dorms will require a key to enter the main doors of the dorm, or scanning a student ID to get in. Remind your student never to leave a main door half-open or propped open, as this can allow others easy access to their dormitory. Also, remind them to keep room doors locked.

Most dormitories also have some form of student goverment (like student council in high school). The dorm council helps plan social and educational events for the hall’s residents. Urge your student to get involved in this, if they have time. This can be a great way to get to know other people, and get involved in campus life.

This is only a brief look at dorm life. For more information, go to the website above, and check out your teen’s college website and catalog.

college, college life, dorms, dormitories, dorm life, student government, freshman life, college freshmen, parenting, parenting teens, parenting teenagers