Julie Renalds, co-editor and contributor to Writin’ on Empty: Parents Reveal the Upside, Downside, and Everything In Between When Children Leave the Nest, is hosting another discussion group for parents (fathers welcome) to begin on a weekday evening in mid-November. Meet other parents who are navigating through this emotional and transitional shift when their kids leave home — in a fun, supportive atmosphere. For more information, you can reach Julie at: 510 531-5670.
If you’ve got a high schooler, you’ve probably got college application anxiety on the brain - so you’ll want to know about this. The Princeton Review is hosting a couple of “Getting Into College” seminars next week. Learn about the admissions and financial aid process, ask questions, and discuss how to find, get into and pay for a college that fits your child’s interests and skills. The seminars are Oct. 6 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Danville Library, 400 Front St., Danville; Oct. 8 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Four Points Sheraton, 5115 Hopyard Rd., Pleasanton; and Oct. 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St., Sacramento. It’s free, but they want you to reserve seats for you and your high school soph, junior or senior. Call 1-800-2REVIEW or visit www.PrincetonReview.com.
Between their crazy schedules and upside-down circadian rhythms, teens always have been somewhat sleep-deprived. Now technology is making it worse. Teens are not just texting, instant-messaging and surfing Facebook all day; they’re sleeping with their cell phones or laptops, too. Or rather, not sleeping. And doctors and parents, many of them raised in an era when phones were attached to walls, are concerned. The average teen sends 2,899 text messages a month - that’s 97 a day. And, according to a new study conducted in Belgium, some 44% of those kids are waking up in the middle of the night to answer their phone or send a text. We explored the issue in depth in yesterday’s Times and Trib, talked to experts and kids, and pulled up some suggestions for how parents can help their kids - including a very simple and practical suggestion from San Jose psychologist David Marcus on how to help your teen see that life’s better when you’re not exhausted.
Fascinating story in Sunday’s Times and Trib about the rise of college cheating. Cheating is so much on the rise, universities have enlisted the help of Web sites, such as turnitin.com, to sniff out plagiarism - meanwhile, other web sites offer essays-for-hire. The story calls it a “technology war.”
Experts blame increased competition to get into colleges and grad schools for the spike in cheating cases. At UC Berkeley, for example, there were were 91 cases of academic dishonesty in 1998-99, and 236 in 2007-08. UC Davis had 286 in 1998-99 and 393 in 2007-08. Fascinating, disturbing stuff - although we can’t help thinking that the 236 cases isn’t quite as horrifying when one puts it into the perspective of Cal’s 35,000 students. Read the story and see what you think. Then punch a button on the poll and tell us, have you ever cheated?
Got teen with a yen to explore? The Oakland Library is hosting a Teen Summer Passport program to encourage teens to get out and see local sights - museums, farmers markets, skate parks and cultural venues. Starting June 13, pick up a passport at any branch, then start exploring and accumulating passport stamps by visiting one of the recommended Bay Area Hot Spots, writing short reviews, attending library programs or volunteering. For every three passport stamps, your teen gets a raffle ticket that could win him a laptop computer, an iPod Nano or a Flip camera. Cool, huh? Check out the library’s web site or call (510) 238-7232 or 238-7234.
We’ll be back on Monday with a story about teens, tweens and online worries. But for now, the weekend’s about to start and we’ll leave you with this, an adorable take on online friendship
UNION CITY — A father upset with his teenage daughter for being out late on prom night was arrested Monday after he fired a gun during the argument and nearly hit his wife, who jumped in the way to protect their daughter, police said.
Caffeine, cell phones and no sleep - there’s a recipe for ill health. A new study being released today by the American Academy of Pediatrics says today’s teens, ages 12-18, are living a dangerously multi-tasking, 24/7 lifestyle. Just 20% get 8 hours of sleep a night, everyone else skimps on the shut eye. Most of them are using electronic media - cell phones, computers and video games - late into the night, and they’re getting through the day by drinking coffee, colas and caffeine-laden energy drinks. A third of the teens reported falling asleep in class twice a day (!) and 7% had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Bill Cooper hardly expected to dial into a world of Mazatec Indian shamanism when his phone went dead and he reached to borrow his son’s.
Then he saw one of the text messages: “hey, when were you fixen to blaze the salvia.”
…
Salvia divinorum, which local smoke shops sell in packets of dark, crushed-leaf extract — with a “strictly for incense use only” disclaimer — has spurred new laws in more than a dozen states in recent years amid a slew of online videos showing youths speaking or acting bizarrely after smoking it; and the well-publicized suicide of a Delaware teen in 2006, with the coroner listing salvia as a contributing cause.
In many of the videos, the smokers often start laughing uncontrollably, then are rendered incoherent by a forceful high that users describe as much shorter than LSD, but often more intense. …
According to a federal drug use survey … , an estimated 1.8 million people age 12 or older used Salvia divinorum at some point, including 750,000 that used it in the past year … . Contrast that with ecstasy, which was used by 2.1 million people in the same one-year period.
Long before the teen years, teach your child to think critically about the media images she’s bombarded with: Do all girls look like the ones on TV or in ads? How much time does it take Blake Lively to look like Serena van der Woodsen? How realistic is that life? What are makeovers and what’s the troubling message being driven home?
Push activities that encourage self-discovery, not rote achievement, says Hinshaw, and that encourage a wider sense of community, especially volunteer work. Spend time together, not just driving to yet another tournament, but actually talking and connecting.
Talk about the realities – that 25 percent of young women have experienced major depression, attempted suicide, indulged in binge eating or cutting, says Hinshaw. “We’ve got to talk about the problem and deal with it.”
Watch for Supergirl warning signs, says Funk: Is your daughter constantly tired? Irritable? Drinking too much coffee or Red Bull in the morning? Does she berate herself?
Encourage your daughter to take time for herself. Let her know you value her for herself.
Lower the pressure on college apps. “Today’s teens have pressure on them to score well on the SAT tests,” says Funk, “build an impressive activities resume, get perfect grades, and investigate their chances at getting into the best colleges, coming from all angles.” Don’t add to it.
