Links
It’s easy to drown in the tsunami of information about teens and parenting on the web. Let me help.
Magazine sites with great teen content
Better Homes and Gardens (Health and Family):
An extensive site with tween/ teen relevant links under “School and College.” Lots of good info about family health issues too.
Family Circle (Teens & Tweens):
A special Teen/ Tween section includes no-nonsense articles on the topics that keep us mothers of teen daughters awake at night (driving, drugs, online life), plus a lively “Ask the Expert” feature.
Good Housekeeping (Family):
Two relevant features on this site: “Get and Give Advice” (thorny issues like finding out your 15-year-old is having sex) and “The Adventure Mom blog,” with all-season hints for family vacations that appeal to tweens/ teens.
Ladies’ Home Journal (Family):
Click on “Raising Kids,” to find separate sections on Tweens and Teens that cover both the usual (peer pressure, drugs, driving) and the unusual (co-ed sleep-overs,, raising a politically active teen).
Oprah.com (Relationships):
The “Relationships” section on Oprah’s massive site does not target the mother-daughter connection, but kids and parenting show up (kids and stress, bullying, kids and poor eating habits), and mothers of teens and tweens might find a number of the other articles pertinent, like “how to deal with difficult people.”
Parents.com
The online companion to Parents, the popular print magazine, with lots of content (much about young children but a substantial teen section as well) and very active forums.
Redbook (Mom & Kids):
Redbook magazine content online with an active blog “The Mom Moment.” Focus is definitely on younger kids, but some of the parenting advice is still valuable.
Check out these information-packed sites
Family Education
A frequently updated mega-site with an extensive “Raising Teens” section. Short articles, expert advice, insightful commentary on common issues. A special section just on “Raising Your Teenage Daughter” with articles on pretty much everything you’ve been dealing with, angsting about or trying to ignore.
Parenting My Teen
A big, active site with podcasts and radio programs about parenting issues and a team of “teen experts” who offers advice on a wide range of teen trouble spots.
About.com: Teens
A big, active site with a forum (lots of relevant teen issues discussed), an intelligent blog by a “professional parent” – a university-trained expert who is also the mother of three – plus links to assorted parenting resources. Familiar issues, down-to-earth advice.
Raising Successful Teens
No-nonsense, straightforward information and advice from the Child Development Institute on a wide variety of topics related to parenting teens, as well as a section on books for parents and teens, motivational tapes for teens and organizations that can help parents and teens.
Sex, Etc.
Sex education for teens by teens with an often-updated blog plus forums, chats and polls. Designed for teens not parents.
Parenting Teens Online
An ezine with a mission to improve the dialog between parents and teens, the site offers articles, columns, podcasts about the usual issues plus and a place where parents can exchange advice and information.
4 Parents.gov
A fairly predictable government site – static (no opportunity to participate) but much straightforward advice about the usual pre-teen and teen issues: sex, drug, alcohol, the wonders of puberty.
And take a look at these BLOGS
MomLogic
At the “tween/teen” section of this big, smart, down-to-earth site, you’ll find mothers writing in and commenting about an interesting diversity of teen parenting issues, from sexting to excessive videogaming
Parenting Teens
A HUGE blog with intelligent posts mostly about the dark side of teendom (behavioral problems, just about any disorder you can imagine – or don’t want to).
Suite 101 (Parenting Teens)
An active site packed with well written short features on a wide variety of teen-centric parenting topics (relationship-building, bad-boy boyfriends, chores) with resources, links, downloads.
Please Stop the Rollercoaster!
The blogger is a behavioral and communication specialist, author and national speaker who offers sober advice for successfully parenting teens.
The blogger is a parent/teen expert and the author of Coach Your Teen to Success. The posts are authoritative and straightforward.
Parenting Teens – Heaven Help Us
A spirited and feisty blog written by a mother of three (two teens and one soon-to-be)
MamaBuzz
A helpful informational site featuring a team of more than 150 blogging moms who test and review products (books, DVDs, toys, clothes) that are kid, mom or family -related. Bloggers receive no compensation, so the reviews are untainted.
The Mother Daughter Blog
If myteenagewerewolf.com is yang, this blog is yin. Or vice versa. If you want to read about the happy experiences of a comely, blond mother-daughter duo who “love spending time with each other,” this is the place to go.
Dad’s House
I was not too interested in the ups and downs of this single Dad’s dating life, but he does post a lot about his teenage daughter, his relationship with her and the various challenges, adventures and misadventures they face. Light-hearted but not without substance. Beware that this guy thinks raising girls is easy. But then he’s a father, not a mother.
