"You can tell a child is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and starts refusing to tell where he is going."

~Author Unknown

"The first half of our life is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children. "

~Clarence Darrow

"Mothers of Teenagers Know Why Animals Eat Their Young"

~Anonymous

Basic Principles of Good Parent/Child Communication

• Let the child know that you are interested and involved and that you will help when needed.
• Turn off the television or put the newspaper down when your child wants to converse.
• Avoid taking a telephone call when the child has something important to tell you.
• Unless other people are specifically meant to be included, hold conversations in privacy. The best communication between you and the child will occur when others are not around.
• Embarrassing the child or putting him on the spot in front of others will lead only to resentment and hostility, not good communication.
• Don’t tower over your child. Physically get down to the child’s level then talk.
• If you are very angry about behaviour or an incident, doesn’t attempt communication until you regain your cool, because you cannot be objective until then. It is better to stop, settle down, and talk to the child later.
• If you are very tired, you will have to make an extra effort to be an active listener. Genuine active listening is hard work and is very difficult when your mind and body are already tired.
• Listen carefully and politely. Don’t interrupt the child when he is trying to tell his story. Be as courteous to your child as you would be to your best friend.
• Don’t be a wipe-out artist, unravelling minor threads of a story and never allowing the child’s own theme to develop. This is the parent who reacts to the incidentals of a message while the main idea is missed: i.e., the child starts to tell about what happened and the parent says, "I don’t care what they are doing, but you had better not be involved in anything like that."
• Don’t ask why, but do ask what happened.
• If you have knowledge of the situation, confront the child with the information that you know or have been told.
• Keep adult talking ("You’ll talk when I’m finished." "I know what’s best for you." "Just do what I say and that will solve the problem"), preaching and moralizing to a minimum because they are not helpful in getting communication open and keeping it open.
• Don’t use put-down words or statements: dumb, stupid, lazy: "Stupid, that makes no sense at all" or "What do you know, you’re just a child."
• Assist the child in planning some specific steps to the solution.
• Show that you accept the child himself, regardless of what he has or has not done.
• Reinforce the child for keeping communication open. Do this by accepting him and praising his efforts to communicate.

Five Great places To Volunteer with Your Teen

Many school systems require high school students to fulfill 40 hours or more of community volunteer hours prior to graduating.


Many nonprofit and charitable groups depend on volunteers to keep their organization running. Yet only 27 per cent of Canadians volunteered in 2000, according to the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. Of the 73 per cent of Canadians who didn't, nearly seven out of 10 said it was because they didn't have enough time.

Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, develop and enhance skills and increase your sense of community. If you feel you don't have the time, why not turn it into something you can do as a family? Make it a priority to teach your children the importance of helping others. You can contribute to a worthy cause while spending time together and having fun -- and you'll be helping your kids develop people skills and a work ethic that will help them in their future careers. Here are five suggestions for places you can volunteer with your teen.
Work with animals

If your family loves to make four-legged friends, consider volunteering at an animal shelter. Shelters across the country are looking for people to help out with a variety of hands-on tasks. The Humane Society for example, needs volunteers for such things as dog walking, feeding, grooming, cleaning kennels, and just spending time with the animals. You can also foster pets at home, taking care of them until the shelter can find them somewhere to live, or until they're old enough to be adopted. This is a great option for families who love animals but don't want a pet of their own. Many shelters have age limits for volunteers -- for instance you must be 16 to volunteer independently at many shelters -- but younger kids can participate if they're accompanied by a parent.

Spend time with seniors

Many Canadian seniors live apart from their families and may need help with household activities such as yard work and meal preparation. Consider adopting an elderly member of your community and offering them assistance with gardening, grocery shopping and running errands, or join a local Meals On Wheels program and help deliver food to those who need it. Or volunteer with senior centres in your area. They offer a variety of services to seniors in the community, including the Friendly Visiting program, through which volunteers are matched with seniors to provide companionship and go on weekly outings.

Festivals

In our city each summer there are various festivals for people with varying interests. They can pick ones whose a) fundraising cause they believe in ( we have a Rib Fest as well that benefits the local Boys and Girls Club),or
b) Activity they enjoy (Blues Fest, Hot Air Balloon Fest)

We have an International Children’s Festival. Performers from all around the world arrive here to fill a week of crafts, music, performance art, and learning for kids of all ages. It is the perfect opportunity for your child to see if a career working with children is for them, to apply some creative face makeup on children, or just to add to a child’s experience by being a “cool friendly giant’ of sorts.

Food Banks

Here is the perfect opportunity to have your kids help out and let them learn lessons in gratefulness; when they see others with very little, and compassion when they see people with very little who inspire a desire to make them feel better; if even for a little while with a kind word or smile.

Boys and Girls Clubs / Childcare Centers
Young children would love nothing more than to have your teen mentor them.
Having them as an assistant coach of a team, tutor them in school work, or just hang out being silly is a benefit to everyone involved.