Mitch's Tips for Parents

A Safety Net for Our Sons

There are few behaviors so devastating to a parent as those practiced by teen boys. The slack jaw, hunched posture, and sudden deafness are alarming behaviors in the child who once revered them. Add to that the behaviors arising from ADD, ADHD, hyperactivity, and just plain acting out that surface at school and are evident in disciplinary action or failing report cards and parents are at a loss and afraid. Who is this kid? they wonder. How can I help him?

Violence in the home

It is a hard fact that male aggression is on every level. Mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. This aggression needs to be addressed and worked with in an aggressive manner.

Mothers do not have the heart for this kind of work.

The Sensitive Boy, The Emotional Boy

"Many mothers come to me saying my son is very sensitive...." What this often tells me is that in actuality their son is very emotional.

In today's world, having emotions where other people can witness them means being sensitive. It’s also highly encouraged, much to the detriment of our young men.

New Year's Resolutions for Parents of Teens

The start of the year is a great time to review what you’ve been doing as a parent and implement some changes or new tools. I’ve put together the following resolutions as a kind of menu that you can look through and pick from. These encompass a lot, so to increase your success and focus, you might pick just one and stay with that one all year.

The Making of an Addict

First, what does an addict behave like? Addicts behave as thought they are the center of the universe. Ignorant of the impact they are having on others, they are self centered to the extreme, They often decide what other people should be responsible for while failing at their own responsibilities, They blame others for everything. Addicts have a huge emotional interest in things that may not even involve them. They live for the drama and emotion of a problem rather than resolving the situation, They also believe they have the right to destroy themselves or create damage and refute any one’s right to say anything about it to them (even or especially people who love them).

Some would contend that many of these traits are also found in a teenager.