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?
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.
My step-son is worried we won’t love him if we have a kid: how can we reassure him?
I’m engaged to marry the love of my life next year. We’ve been together for four years, and I’ve been a step-mother to his eleven-year-old for three-and-a-half of those four years. I really love this kid — I often feel like he could be my own child, and we have a special “just us” language we regularly use. My step-son has repeatedly told us that he doesn’t want us to have a child of our own. His dad and I do plan to have a child, and since we’re older it’ll probably be sooner than later.
Autism and puberty: my 10-year-old is growing up, and I’m not ready
My ten-year-old daughter with Asperger’s syndrome just got her period. When my daughter was diagnosed several years ago as being on the Autism spectrum, I only thought so far as the toddler/elementary school years. Everyday things like getting dressed and playing with other kids were already such challenges, I just couldn’t wrap my head around what would happen when my daughter, you know, becomes a woman.
LeakyCon and 4 other nerd-tastic summer cons perfect for parent-teen bonding
Guys, summer is almost upon is… which means it’s TOTALLY time to get ready for con season! We’ve chatted about taking a small child to a con (totally doable), but never before have we waded into aspirational con territory for many a parent-child duo: taking your teen to a con. Luckily there are tons of options this time of year — there’s a con for just about every form of geekery you can drum up. Harry Potter fan? Check. Horror movie aficionado? You got it.
Dangerous Cooking for Boys: an 11-year-old’s online cooking show for kids with allergies
This is my awesome little cousin, Tully. He is unschooled and this year has begun his own online cooking show, Dangerous Cooking for Boys. Tully is 11 and suffers from a number of allergies and cannot eat dairy, gluten or sugar so has started making videos (specifically aimed at boys but my daughter loves them) that make cooking fun for kids.
3 age-appropriate ways to talk to kids and teens about media portrayals of sexual assault
I have this super awesome talent for thinking of the perfect thing to say hours later. A talent which is not in any way useful — unless you have a blog. In which case you can blog about it and get it all out. So here are three possible, age-appropriate, conversations you can have with your children about rape that I came up with.
Should you allow your daughter’s boyfriend to sleep over?
What a concept — approaching self esteem by telling a child their darker selves are loved. Only in our culture is the primitive drive to propagate a species seen as dark and dirty. We MUST change that. Sex is not dirty or disgusting, it’s amazing and should not be relegated to something we do in the dead of night when the house is asleep and the lights are off. Turn on the lights and make love at noon. Sex and pleasure are not desires that should be hidden, but valid feelings that when expressed appropriately, bring immense joy into your life.