Monthly Archives: September 2009

Part 4 of helping your teen as they are overcoming addiction Here are some tips: Start a conversation by asking open-ended questions. Open-ended questions… cannot be answered “yes or “no allow your child to give spontaneous and honest answers—she should tell her story in her own words usually begin with: »

Part 3 of facing your teen’s addiction Substance abuse hinders emotional development in teens. This is due to the psychoactive effects of drugs on the emotional center (limbic system) in the brain. All drugs of abuse change how this part of the brain functions. Teens learn that using drugs and »

Part 2 of facing your teen’s addiction One of the indications of addiction is the extent to which one’s life becomes organized around using drugs or alcohol. For addicted teens, there is almost always a well-defined sub-culture of friends, associates, parties, and rituals that becomes the center of their social »

Part 1 of facing your teen’s addiction During illness, good parents instinctively attend to their children’s needs and provide an ample supply of love and comfort. As the child recovers, family life quickly returns to normal. Unfortunately, it’s not the same when a teen becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol. »

Character involves many things from being a person of faith, to someone who works hard, who abides by their commitments and responsibilities, who has come into their own sense of themselves and their worth. However, the true character of a person is who they are when no one else is »

The first five years are critical in a child’s overall development. Within this time frame, a child can embrace one of two realities: he/she grows up experiencing love and security and trust in his parents or he/she is not held and nurtured... he/she is placed in the arms of strangers »

ADHD is the most common neurobiological disorder in children. Just why the prevalence of ADHD has increased in the last 30 years is unclear. Certainly the world in which children live today is faster paced with countless distractions and stimulations that did not exist 30 years ago. I agree that »

In Matthew 13, Jesus gives us the parable of the sower. The sower sows many seeds, many of which never reach their designed growth. Only a few good seeds thrive. The question arises:what can we do to better our chances of having a good seed grow instead of a bad »

The lady had briskly left her seat about midway in the center section of the church pews and had taken her nine year old son by the hand and removed him from his seat on the front row. At first I thought her action meant on the spot punishment for »

Guys get addicted to pornography because their brains cannot distinguish between pornography and the real thing. Men who view porn can achieve full arousal within seconds. Because of dopamine reward, sexual images and memories are given priority by the brain because, like hunger and thirst,our sex drive is key to »

In a two-parent family, the father should be the disciplinarian and the mother the nurturer. That is God’s ideal. When a couple divorces, the single mother (often) is forced to assume both roles, which makes it extremely difficult for her. The non-custodial father sometimes does not want to resume this »

Excerpts from: Home: Society's Pacemaker I hope you agree with me that the home is the most influential institution on earth. If it is indeed this important, I feel we should go into the real definition of a home. We could very well say family instead of home. To better »