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Anger Management for Parents of Defiant Teenagers

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"Hi Mark, I have been following the course now for 4 weeks. There have been many improvements, but the hardest part for me (single mom) is remaining calm and keeping a Poker face and I am continually mentally beating myself up as a failure. Are there any other pointers which will assist me in keeping calm and a poker face?" Every parent has been there at least once (and usually dozens of times). Your youngster does something that flips a switch inside you, and in a single moment you transform from a reasonable mom to a raging b____. Learning how to control anger is a skill that can save you from reacting inappropriately with your kids. In addition, watching a mother or father deal effectively with angry feelings teaches children ways to cope with their own emotions. Here are 25 tips that will help parents manage their anger: 1. "I," not "you"— Avoid attacking your youngster with "you" statements—"You are such a slob!" or ...

"Discipline Tips" for Troubled Teens

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If you are feeling fed-up with your teen’s behavior, you’re not the only one. Surprisingly, your troubled teen may be feeling just as fed-up with her behavior. A hostile teenager’s violent acts do not empower her, but leaves her feeling like she has little or no control over herself. The period of adolescence hurtles a number of mental and physical changes at your teenager. If she has a strong foundation, which comes from your set rules and structure at home, then you can expect that she will be able to deal with these changes more easily and possibly never have to enter into a stage of hostility. If you do not provide a set structure for her to latch on to, then it is like she is plunging through fast-paced adolescence without a seat belt. You may have noticed that as your youngster has grown from a toddler in her terrible twos to a teenager equipped with mood swings, applicable discipline has been more difficult to enforce. By the time they reach the early teens, the...

Teens and “Over-the-Counter” (OTC) Drug Abuse

I have a question about my 17 year old. With all the issues we have been having with her over this past 1.5 years, I definitely have a hard time trusting her anymore. Things seemed like they were starting to come around and I was letting go a bit of the feelings of mistrust. Then, yesterday I cleaned my daughter's room as she was at work and we are trying to sell our house and had a showing. We only get 2-3 hours notice so there are many times I have to clean her room so it's ready for showing. She knows this and also knows that if she doesn't do it herself, it has to get done so I will be in there cleaning. Everything was fine until she got home and went into her room and come out hollering at me and asking me what I did with her Sleep Eze pills. I know she has been purchasing them once in awhile as she has been having problems sleeping. I never touched them nor saw them. She started acting almost panicky and started looking through my things thinking I had h...