Does the word, 'discipline' carry a lot of bad press for you as a parent?  Does it remind you of something used by controlling parents in the 50's who just didn’t get it?  Many parents of the millenium express the desire to be friends with their teens. That ideally behavioural issues diminish simply by having an open, mature and equal relationship with them. Is this a realistic desire given that parents often experience behavioural problems with their teens, and increasingly with their preteens? What to do when the boundaries and rules keep getting breached? How do you discipline your teen, particularly where issues of safety and welfare are concerned? How do you respond when she not only appears unappreciative of the difficulty ...

At puberty a girl begins to search in earnest for outside validation for her innermost hopes and dreams for herself as a young woman. When she doesn't find what she's looking for, or when she sees women making compromises that the males in her family or society are not asked to make, she quite naturally becomes angry, frightened or disappointed. That's part of the reason for adolescent rebellion.If her emotions aren't validated and redirected in a positive way, her disappointment, anger and anxiety may take any of the following routes depending upon her innate temperament:  expressed inwardly as depression, moodiness, or physical illness.  expressed outwardly in self destructive behaviour e.g. poor relationships, substance abuse. ...

The rise in cases of depression , obesity , insomnia in teenagers , low self esteem , high blood pressure in children , eating disorders , bullying , school violence and even teenage pregnancy are directly or indirectly linked to unhappy children. Whether it is or not, this is again open to debate. My question is can we teach our kids to be happy -- just as we teach them letters, habits, take them  to guitar classes and football classes. Have we told them through our actions that we accept them, our partners, our jobs, our present lives as it is? We strive and work for change but can't wish or it. And after we have put in our best efforts, we have to sit back and await results. Do the kids know that in life as in other p...

Do we really believe the children are our future? Really?!! How much do we really value the lives of our children? Here's a few stats on just childhood deaths that I find heart-breaking.  Around the world, 27–30,000 children die every day. That is equivalent to:  One child dying every 3 seconds Twenty children dying every minute A 2004 Asian-type Tsunami occurring almost every week An Iraq-scale death toll every 15–35 days Ten to eleven million children dying every year Over 50 million children dying between 2000 and 2005 Isn't is it so easy to shrug our shoulders and assume everything's OK because, "Hey, I'm doing OK as a dad or mum. Why should I change things?" Maybe, you don't even have any ...