Sue Scheff: Parenting Book for both Parents and Teens
by Sue Scheff on May 14, 2009
THE SECRETS TO SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN YOUR TEENS, by Lori Hanson
Award-Winning Author of “It Started with Pop-Tarts (R)”, Lori Hanson, wrote an amazing very quick and easy read parent and teen book. What I loved about this book is it was written in a fashion that addresses some serious issues that teens face today, however in a condensed and easy to understand format.
I literally finished it in less than 2 hours (with many interruptions) and was very impressed how Lori both talked to teens and parents – almost at the same time – and you could feel that Lori is connecting.
I recommend any parents of teens today purchase this book and share it with their teen. What a great way to start communications – since today many parents have lost that connection with many teens.
Oh, did I mention Lori incorporates her dogs (Sasha and Yagger) as analogies – absolutely fantastic – we all love dogs and to see them and their actions helping us as parents to understand human behavior was brilliant and again, something we can all relate to.
You can purchase this book here. Don’ miss it! Get it before it hits the book stores!
Tags: At Risk Teens, Lori Hanson, Parenting, Parenting Books, Parenting Teens, Parents Universal Resource Experts, Peer Pressure, Struggling Teens, Sue Scheff, Teen Books, Teen Depression, Teen Health, Teen Help
Sue Scheff 2008 Great Parenting Websites and Books
by Sue Scheff on Jan 04, 2009
Well, 2008 is finally behind us! Many would say it was not the best year economically, with stress of finances, the frustrations of getting our kids/teens to comprehend the serious of it all. Personally I am very excited about 2009 – especially this fall, my second book will be released and it is going to be HOT! It is hush hush for now, but it will be explosive for sure!
Let’s take a look at 2008 and some of the great parenting sites and books we have:
ADDitude Magazine - All about ADD/ADHD!
PE4Life - Teaching our Kids the Importance of Physical Education
Connect with Kids – Great Articles and DVD’s for Parenting of all ages
Inhalant Abuse – Learn more about this growing problem among teens.
Love Our Children USA - Great information on keeping our kids safe today.
iKeepSafe – Promoting Parenting Education on Keeping Kids Safe in Cyberspace
Feingold Program - Fantastic information on alternative ways to treating ADD/ADHD
Education.com – It’s all about kids of all ages!
Safe Teen Driving Club – Learn how to keep your teens safe on the road.
Next Generation Parenting – What’s next?
OnTeensToday – Vanessa Van Petten has great insights on teens today.
Thinking Forward – A parent’s guide to middle school years.
Break Free Beauty - Teen Body Image by Sarah Maria
Beautiful Boy by David Scheff
It All Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
A Relentless Hope – Surviving the Storm of Teen Depression by Gary Nelson
You’re Grounded by Vanessa Van Petten
Parent Survival Training – Dr. David Lustig
SOS – Students Guide for Saying NO to Cheating – by Lisa Medoff
SOS – Students Guide for Peer Pressure - by Lisa Medoff
Preventing Addiction by Dr. John Fleming
Thin Club - by Kim Tennant
There are many more – read through my Book and Website Blog and you will find many helpful sites and books.
Oh, don’t forget my own book release in July 2008 – Wit’s End! Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-Of-Control Teen published by Health Communications, Inc. Watch for fall 2009 as they release my second book!
Tags: Beautiful Boy, Feingold Diet, Gary Nelson, Lori Hanson, NexGen Parenting, Parenting Blogs, Parenting Books, Parenting Teens, Parenting Websites, Parents Universal Resource Experts, Peer Pressure, Safe Teen Driving, Sue Scheff, Teen Depression, Teen Help, Thinking Forward
Sue Scheff: Teens and Eating Disorders
by Sue Scheff on Dec 18, 2008
As the holidays are here, parents should be aware of their teens and tweens concerns with body image. Today’s peer pressure compounded with Internet Images of what a teen should look like, can add stress and frustration to a young teen (both girls and boys).
Eating Disorders can sometimes be hard to recognize. As a parent, it is important to be informed and know the warning signs.
Here is a great article from Connect with Kids from this week’s parenting articles and tips:
“I would never want to look at one. I think that would be really depressing to tell you the truth.”
– Mary Hardin, 14 years old
What Mary doesn’t want to see, to millions others is just a few key words and mouse clicks away.
“Who’s the skinniest and how can they stay the skinniest (or) here’s how you can have only one thing to eat all day or how you can survive on water and gum,” explains Bryna Livingston, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in eating disorders.
Livingston is referring to pro-anorexia websites – where girls are applauded for losing weight and surviving hunger – that are emerging on the Internet. On many such sites, anorexics journal thoughts and feelings and even post pictures of their thin celebrity idols.
“It’s a pseudo-support group, and the problem is you’re not really getting support,” says Livingston. “You’re feeding a competition. You’re feeding a disease, and you’re feeding what you want to hear so you don’t have to make any changes.”
For Mary Hardin, change was hard. She struggled with anorexia for three years. These websites, she says, spell danger. “I think (the websites) could have really made me worse and (made me) fall more into my eating disorder and encouraged me more,” she says. “That’s the last thing I needed was to be encouraged to be in an eating disorder.”
Experts say parents of anorexics have to show tough love, especially if their child is being enticed by these Internet sites. “I’d turn off the computer. I’d get it out of the house,” says Livingston.
Mary’s advice: “Listen to who you trust. Do you trust your family and your friends, or do you trust these people (on the Internet) that you don’t even know that are trying to give you lessons about your life?”
Luckily, Mary avoided the lure of anorexia websites when she was struggling with her illness. After years of therapy and family support, she says she is now healed. “It is possible to recover and to be a healthy girl with a happy life after it all,” she says. “There is hope to get through it.”
Tips for Parents
Many dangerous places exist in cyberspace, especially for those with body image difficulties. A quick, easy Google search can produce a long list of pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites – places where those who suffer from eating disorders (ED) support each other and establish a sense of community. There are at least 100 active pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia sites. Some statistics state that several of these sites have accumulated tens of thousands of hits. Many sites treat eating disorders as lifestyle choices, rather than the illnesses they truly are. Most personify anorexia (“Ana”) and bulimia (“Mia”) into companions – individuals one can look to for guidance and strength.
The medical community classifies eating disorders as mental illnesses. Experts say girls with eating disorders focus on their bodies in a misguided bid to resolve deeper psychological issues, believing that they can fix their inner troubles by achieving a perfect outside. Eating disorder specialists say pro-anorexia sites are particularly dangerous since those suffering from the disease are usually in deep denial and cling to the illness to avoid dealing with its psychological underpinnings. Websites that glorify eating disorders make treatment increasingly difficult.
- Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
- There are an estimated 7 million females and 1 million males suffering from eating disorders in the United States.
- The Harvard Eating Disorders Center estimates that 3 percent of adolescent women and girls have anorexia, bulimia or binge-eating disorders.
- Four-of-five 13-year-old girls have attempted to lose weight.
- One study showed that 42 percent of first- through third-grade girls want to be thinner.
About 1 percent of females between 10 and 20 have anorexia nervosa. Between 2 percent and 3 percent of young women develop bulimia nervosa. Almost half of all anorexics will develop bulimia or bulimic patterns.
Without treatment, up to 20 percent of people with serious eating disorders die. With treatment, the mortality rate falls to 2 to 3 percent. The recovery rate with treatment is about 60 percent. Alas, only 10 percent of those with eating disorders receive treatment.
Pro-ED sites are just one reason why parents need to monitor children’s online behavior. In the web journals or logs (blogs) of these sites, users share near-starvation diets, offer tips for coping with hunger and detail ways to avoid the suspicions of family members. They post “thinspiration” – images from the media of their ideal celebrities, such as supermodel Kate Moss and the Olsen twins. They discuss extreme calorie restriction and weight loss through laxatives, diet pills and purging (self-induced vomiting).
- Between the ages of 8 and 14, females naturally gain at least 40 pounds.
- More than half of teenage girls are – or think they should be – on diets.
- Websites were changing the very culture surrounding eating disorders, making them more acceptable to girls on and off the Internet.
- Pro-ED sites thrive off the denial aspect of the illnesses while promoting the perceived benefits of having an eating disorder.
References
- Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.
- Harvard Eating Disorders Center
- The National Institute of Mental Health
- Reuters
- Socialist Voice of Women
- South Carolina Department of Mental Health
I also recommend you visit a survivor of Eating Disorders, Lori Hanson’s website at www.lori-hanson.com and check out her book, It All Started with Pop-Tarts.
Tags: Aneroxia, At Risk Teens, Connect with Kids, Eating Disorders, Lori Hanson, Parenting Teens, Parents Universal Resource Experts, Peer Pressure, Sue Scheff, Teen Eating Disorders, Teen Issues
