Do You Know the Pressures
Your Teen May Be Trying to Deal With?

Find out how to better understand your teen's world
so you can guide them through the turbulent teenage years...

When you have a teenager, you're going to have teen issues. The danger of casual, "first time" drug and sexual experimentation can lead any teen down the wrong road and to problems for the entire family and beyond.

It happens every day ... even the best kids in the class get lost, the "regular" middle-class kids, and ones you'd never image would stray off and get into trouble.

Maybe you're not experiencing the harder teen issues and problems like drugs and pregnancy, but you're still afraid of behavior and surroundings that could lead to something dangerous, such as:

• Promiscuity and growing up too fast
  
  
• The pace that technology is infiltrating and changing our lives with "gotta-have" devices and content that influences
  
  
• Alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, loitering without purpose
  
  
• Predators. Getting into the wrong crowd
  
  
• The sheer danger of the big bad world. Are we teaching them to survive and thrive in it?

When the little voice inside your head is saying, yes, I'm afraid my kid might get hurt by these kinds of pressures, then you are ready to STOP and discover how to avoid these dangers. If they're already happening, you can quickly learn how to work with your teen in a way that will be more welcomed and therefore, more effective.

Maybe you're not experiencing any of these problems, but feel like one or all of them could happen in the blink of an eye. You're right ... they could.

Whatever the case in your household, what you do today affects your teenager's future – guaranteed. That means you can affect your child's life and future - which ultimately affects yours.

When you take part in their lives in a way they'll welcome, they'll let you in. This is the key. Once you're in, you need to capitalize on "teaching moments" when they're most open to it. That is the other key. Otherwise they can stray off and head straight for trouble. Peer pressure and society's influences are like a magnet pulling them and you need to be their rudder.

Think the "girl next door" is a good influence? Think again.

"Independent film maker Sharlene Azam's recent documentary about rampant promiscuity says that anyone who associates teen sex of the wilder variety with drug-use and pimps hasn't been paying attention!

Casual sex or even 'barter-sex' is part of the lifestyle of a percentage of middle-class teens for whom it is 'no biggie' to offer special sexual favors as a barter for something they want; just because some guy at a party looks cute or plays on the team.

Azam refers to girls as young as 11 who discuss this in depth; engaging in casual prostitution so they can purchase some needed item.

According to Azam, these girls are all from "good homes." In most cases the parents are completely unaware of what's going on or simply ignore what is right in front of them.

In a lot of cases, parents and other guardians are absentee, either physically or just in terms of involvement in their kid's lives. At the very root where problems exist, it relates back to communication and support issues between parent and child."

Think your average, middle-class kid is less likely to get into dangerous situations? Think again.

"Teen-age heroin addicts in middle-class suburbs testify before Senate"

May 9, 2000 WASHINGTON (CNN)– Recovering teen-age heroin addicts and their relatives are talking about how the drug has moved into the middle-class suburbs with devastating effects.

"It grabbed a hold of me," said Michael Nevins, recalling how quickly he became addicted after first trying heroin four years ago at age 13. "I couldn't loosen its grip."

People who testified Tuesday said the problem of teen heroin use is taking place under their parents' noses.

"I was totally shocked and very upset – more with myself than anything," said Lois Nevins, Michael Nevins' mother.

Michael Nevins and other recovering addicts told lawmakers that heroin is easy to find and cheap to buy in the suburbs. Additionally, they said that parents and teachers remain unaware of the problem.

"It's a bad habit that changes the brain and the younger you learn it, the harder it is to stop," said Dr. Charles O'Brien of the Treatment Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Think all those hours your kid is staring into a screen – computer, text, cell, TV – isn't doing any harm? Think again.

“Dr. Hillary Cash PhD, the author of the book, Video Games and Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control, has been counseling those addicted to technology for more than a decade and is now a co-founder of the clinic, with partner, social worker Cosette Rae, MSW.

Cash explains the need for the treatment they offer, saying, “Both China and South Korea have designated 'Internet Addiction' as their #1 public health danger and have responded by developing multiple treatment programs. The United States, by contrast, has been slower to recognize and respond to the problem but now is beginning to take some active steps. The mission is to help young people find balance and reconnect to the real world."

This book and the program it encourages is part of that "treatment" and process of getting kids away from their Internet Addictions.

Think you have plenty of time to "get to this" ... or that it won't happen to you and your kid? Think again.

The above 3 news stories are only 2 out of millions of actual reporting that happen every day in our country. Thinking this couldn't possibly happen to you is a very naive way of thinking and justifying non-action.

But ... when you know how to get through to your child you'll help them steer clear of life-changing dangers.

In less than a couple nights reading, you could learn what many doctors, teachers, and child psychologists are saying is the best way to get through to your kids, guide them through these dangerous years, and best of all, have the relationship you want with them now and as they grow up into adulthood.

Don't wait another day. Read this easy-to-follow, doctor, child psychologist, and teacher recommended book and learn what you can do today to help the young person in your life become a thriving adult.