Category Archive

teens

Dumbledore's Army, still recruiting: How U.S. elections are like the Battle of Hogwarts

Dumbledore’s Army, still recruiting: How U.S. elections are like the Battle of Hogwarts

I’ve been upset about the recent Senate hearings and I’ve been ever more upset since the vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court; I’ve also been thinking a lot about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Seem strange? Let me explain…

A fat suit, really? Netflix's new show Insatiable is not what we need right now

A fat suit, really? Netflix’s new show Insatiable is not what we need right now

I was introduced to a new Netflix series “Insatiable,” which presents a fat teen bullied by her high school classmates who gets clocked in the face and loses a bunch of weight due to her jaw being wired shut over the summer. She comes back after losing a lot of weight, now perceived as “hot,” and exacts revenge on her bullying classmates.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" How do you explain gender to a child?

“Are you a boy or a girl?” How do you explain gender to a child?

My kiddo is biologically male, but when kids ask him if he’s a boy or girl, he says, “I’m me. I’m a person.” Kids, however, don’t accept this answer and pester him to the point of tears. I don’t know how to tell him the difference between boys and girls, or if I want to tell him that there is a difference at all (besides anatomically).

How do you explain gender to a four-year-old?

My mother abandoned me and my life was forever changed

I was just a regular teenage girl one moment and then a wreck the next. All I had to worry about in life was what outfit I would have to wear to school the next day and what grades I got in my classes. But that all changed in just one day.

My mom had been going through a rough patch and her depression had gotten the worst of her. One day she just vanished into thin air…

What do I do to stop my teenage son from pressuring girls into sending nudes?

How do I stop my teenage son from pressuring girls into sending nudes?

I have a 13-year-old son who I’ve recently found out has been pressuring a female friend into sending nude photos to him. I’m SO disappointed as I thought I was doing a good job teaching him about enthusiastic consent, legal issues with minors, and framing media news in a teachable way. But I’m going wrong somewhere. Do any of you have any advice or resources for dealing with this?

How to respond to teens who think their bodies are “gross”

I am a nurse educator for a non-profit that provides free childbirth education classes and case management for pregnant teenagers and their partners. My classes are almost always riddled with at least one or two teens (moms or dads) who think that any/all body parts are super “gross.”

This is how I’m teaching teens about bodies…

Family photo fun time with an international blended family of six

This set of photos from Maine-based Justine Johnson Photography celebrates a blended family of AWESOME: Manya and Brian live in Kenya with their four kiddos. These two were both divorced when they met, and happily joined her two daughters and his two sons together. When the six of them were altogether visiting grandparents in Maine last summer they decided to round up the gang for photos — and here’s what they came away with.

We’re adopting a teenager: help?

I have loved how Offbeat Families has covered and supported all kinds of families. My husband and I recently and totally unexpectedly became parents to a 17-year-old boy. I have been blown away by the depth of emotions I have felt after only knowing him for a short time.