Getting your kid out of bed

How to wake your little darling up without a slanging match.

Missed the first article read it here Teenagers and Sleep

Here are my suggestions for getting them up.

• Go in at least an hour before they have to get up and open their curtains – natural light is a gentle way to bring someone around from a deep slumber.
• Get a very loud alarm clock in their room and set it for thirty minutes before they have to get up. Put it somewhere where they have to get up to switch it off.Then, if they are not up, go in five minutes before they are due to get up and in a stern authoritative voice, tell them it is time to get up.Do this two more times and then leave them to it.

  On the last occasion tell them that you will not be coming in anymore.

  A side note here is that making them go to bed early to get up early may not be a solution. Melatonin levels (which induce sleep) kick in much later with adolescents and sometimes will not peak until one or two in the morning. So even though they may go to bed, their pleas of, “I can’t get to sleep!” may actually be true. They are just not wired the same as we are when it comes to sleep.

   

Being alone on Valentines Day…..

How to be single and enjoy yourself..

For many people and inparticularly teenagers, Valentines Day is a huge thing, I remember it well, how many cards did you get, who from and what are you going to do on Valentines night?

However, for the single teenage girl, or the single parent for that matter  the pressure of being alone can be unbearable. So if you or your teenager are in this situation, , here is what to do.

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Teaching your children about money

The Financially Intelligent Parent

This is a great Interview I did a while ago ( in fact ages ago) with the amazing Nicola Cairncross .

If you want to teach your children about Money I highly recommend Get serious! It’s just money – how to teach your teen to be more financially responsible.

Connecting Millenials to Causes Using Social Media

Social Causes and Generation Y

I love this post from Carol Phillips, one of my fave writers on all things Gen-Y and beyond.

Gen-Y are the generation geared towards social change (look what they did for Obama) and I love Carol’s tips on how to connect them with social media.

Here are my top four; for the full ten read the blog post

1. Invite them to join the Team.
Millennials relate to heroes and young people with ideas. (Think 911, NBC’s Heroes, Harry Potter). DO: Show them how they can get involved and contribute in ways other than money. Like other segments, Millennials are more likely to give when they have a personal connection. Feature team members who are having an impact.

2. Give them a Voice.
Generation Y wants to be heard so help them tell their story. Make it easy to join the conversation. DO: Use blogs to encourage two-way conversation. Blogs are usually less formal and more dynamic than a regular websites. Good blogs invite comments and discussion and repeat visits. DON’T FILTER: Allow the negative and positive comments to remain.

3. Make It Personal.
Millennials use social media to connect to people, not institutions. DO: Feature real people. Be authentic. DON’T: Be afraid to be transparent and have a little fun.

4. Market with them, not to them.
Think of your efforts as multiplying and activating advocates. Do: Work for ‘retweets’ – Encourage donors and fundraisers to publicize their support and progress to their friends. Find ways to give them ‘social currency’ to spend with their friends. Don’t: Wait until you have it all figured out. Put your advocates to work on your behalf. They are in the best position to know how to talk to their peers.

Communicating with your Teenager

How to communicate with your teenager

Here are some great podcasts I have just found that I did ages ago.

4 great audios on communicating with your teenager

Teenagers risk death in internet strangling craze

Online videos show children how to throttle each other in pursuit of highs

This is a worrying headline that hit the UK headlines.

Children are posting videos on the internet showing them choking other youngsters to the point of collapse, in a craze that doctors warn has led to brain damage and death.

In one, a group of teenagers set out clear guidelines to the practice in an “instructional video”, while in several others British voices can be heard.
The problem has been increasingly acknowledged in the United States, Canada and France but campaigners warn that Britain is turning a blind eye. The craze is spreading on the internet largely without the knowledge of adults.In Britain, the Department for Children, Schools and Families said it was aware of the activity and was monitoring the situation closely. There is no authoritative research on the issue in the UK, despite campaign groups compiling 86 cases of young people in Britain who may have died this way.

Known by a variety of names from funky chicken to space monkey, the “game” involves hyperventilating or squeezing the carotid artery in the neck for a few seconds to achieve a high. Constricting the artery cuts blood flow to the brain; when the pressure is released, the resulting rush of oxygen causes the high. Experts say it is most prevalent among high-achieving adolescents who do not want to get in trouble by taking drugs or drink. The practice is different to autoerotic asphyxiation because it is not done for sexual gratification.

Doctors warn the choking game can lead to seizures, head injuries, strokes, heart failure and brain damage. Parents are warned to look out for unexplainable headaches, bruising round the neck, bloodshot eyes or ear pain.

I don’t want to raise alarm I just think that parents need to be aware and have conversations with their children about it. Ask them today what they think about it and how would they react if their friend’s were doing it.

I have to say that this has been around for a while and I have personally dealt with a case in the police that resulted in death about 10 years ago  so this really is no laughing matter.

Please please talk to your kids about it.

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