teenagers

How is a teenage pimp made?

There's a popular saying that "Raising teens is like trying to nail jello to a wall" — and this is a perfect metaphor for parenting teenagers.

Air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution. The list goes on. And of all the environmentally unsound ways to poison the atmosphere, I’m probably most guilty of committing “t-shirt pollution.”

Here's the truth about nice boys and sexism.

I told my kids if they are going to pick a substance, pick pot. Don’t buy booze. Don’t drink cough syrup. Do get high. Why? Because pot doesn’t kill people. Pot doesn’t wreck your liver. Pot makes you want to eat cookies and listen to Pink Floyd on reproduction vinyl you bought at Urban Outfitters.

The teen years are difficult for everyone involved, and rehashing the same fights time and again is exhausting. You may be losing hope that you will have a healthy relationship with your kid before they turn 25. Don’t worry, it isn’t an impossible feat. You can learn to ease yourself through these arguments more effectively with your teen, while building a solid foundation of trust between you.

As the headline article (“Anxiety, Depression and the American Adolescent”) points out, depression has been replaced with anxiety as the leading mental health struggle of today’s adolescent. The one possible cause that stood out to me most was the impact of social media. With smartphone in hand, teens can be reading harmless texts, or – as was the case for one young female interviewed – they could be viewing disturbing Instagram posts, or reading about distant tragedies, or scrolling through hateful Facebook comments. Maybe even comments about them.

Tamago kake gohan is made with hot sushi rice, an egg, soy sauce, and good dash of furikake (a traditional seaweed and sesame rice seasoning). It is comforting, filling, entirely satisfying, and stays with you for several hours. This is great fuel for a school day, a sick day, or a day spent hiking — or marathoning Project Runway.