When your child was in elementary or early in middle school, there was still time to get out to “parent evenings,” “community meetings” and to hang out and chat with other parents when dropping off or picking up the kids. You might have called on friends or talked to other parents during “play dates” or other informal gatherings. These days, time probably seems to be so much tighter. That parent education and support event looks intriguing, but if you have to choose between a 2-hour talk and having dinner with the kids or getting them to and from some activity, well, it’s a tough choice.

If you can't make it to one of our 2008-09 Parent Support Forums in Oakland or Lafayette, you can log on to our Parenting Forum online anytime, 24 hours a day and ask Michael a question about your teen or pre-teen. Your selected Questions and Discussion will be posted here, so that you can read about what other parents are going through. Or you might just want to Write a Letter and Share Your Story with other parents, teachers and mental health professionals, so that they can hear about your own experience and learn from your own struggles and insights. You might also be looking to see what other parents, educators and counselors/therapists think about one or more of the 10 Key Parenting Issues that help structure our whole website:

Parenting Teens & Pre-teens
Education/School
Teens, Pre-teens & the Family
Privacy
Responsibility, Building Character & Being in Community
Physical, Emotional & Social Development
Teens, Drugs & Alcohol
Sexuality & Teens: SPECIAL FEATURE
Dating & Relationships
Internet & Media: SPECIAL FEATURE

To read articles featuring PHFP's Michael Simon:

Click on the link here to download Katherine Seligman's "Young and Wired: Computers, cell phones, video games, blogs, text message—how  will the sheer amount of time spent plugged in affect our kids?"

Click on the link here to get to Michael Simon's 2007 CNN interview, "Living in a porn-driven, 'look-at-me' culture."

When you want to give and get feedback about these issues, participate in or read through our Quick Polls and Surveys.

Quick Polls and Surveys are excellent ways to complete the circle between those teaching and learning about adolescents. You may find a Quick Poll on the Practical Help Homepage or you can check here for polls and longer surveys related to our 10 Key Parenting Issues. Quick Poll results are available immediately upon completion. Several times a year, PHFP will invite you to participate in larger surveys (like our featured survey on Teens and the Internet). The results will be reported online and highlighted in the Practical Help Newsletter.

© 2005 Michael Y. Simon, MFT