Sarah... I do indeed see some changes in the wind. I am much more involved as "grandma" than MY mother was, when MY kids were growing up. In fact, even my younger daughter is an active "parent" to those kidlets. They are well cared for and very loved. We as a family, ARE our own little community. We all live relatively close to each other, within 15 minutes.

I see so many kids who just wander the streets.... no one seems to take an interest in what some of these kids are dealing with at home. I would love to see the Big Brother / Big Sister programs get more funding. I would consider volunteering. Children just need attention and involvement with adults who can steer them in the RIGHT direction.

Teen years are tough, but those "rough edges" go away with a lot of loving attention and care. Kids don't have to fall through the cracks if our communities invested some effort and support.

awesome post Sarah...

Man, Caldwell is a dead ringer for Nicholas Cage.

INterestingly enough, they didn't define adolescence in this article. Contrary to popular belief, adolescence is not a period defined as puberty, but as a set point in time when certain behaviors are performed. Risk taking and individual identity are examples.

Parenting isn't the only factor at play here. THe 'necessity' of a two income family demand a lot of both parents. Add to that the solitary, non-human interaction based video games,lack of intact families, shallow role models, and reliance on drugs for problem solving, and it's amazing not more kids are on drugs.

THIS JUST IN- Huffing has now been linked to slow comprehension levels of students at any grade!!!! And Crystal-Meth is increasing cavities for more adults!

Justme... It seems like the entire generation of parents NOW, are simply mimicking that LACK of parenting THEY went through! How do we correct an entire generation of "kids" making kids?

Babies do NOT come with a handbook... but look at the lack of care and relationship issues, these 20 and 30 year old
parents" are dealing with...

Families are so spread out now. Grandparents are no longer the family "stabilizer", for the most part.

Its sad really, their will be even MORE kids who have to grow up too soon, and have nothing to look forward to.

duh.

Caldwell is not a she, darwin, Baldwin is! I agree totally with this article. I am with sannio, I can also speak from my personal and professional life. I am 46 now and don't ask me to remember when I was 10, I can't. I smoked dope, snorted rush water and drank. When I worked at Parker, the kids I had in in-school suspension were also either high or drunk or talking about doing so at lunch. I had a group of boys who were all friends, who went home at lunch and got high, came back to school, got in trouble and got sent to me. I tried my damnedest to keep them busy with homework from their teachers or worksheets I made up but nothing worked. Half the time I had to go to the principal and have them suspended out of school. Did it matter to those kids? NO it did not. I also believe in telling your children, you do this, you get punished. Not, if you do this, just be careful, what a crock! No one will ever listen though. Kids or parents, that is why we have such a high crime rate now. All these articles start to blend into one. JMO

So do stupid parents.

Caldwell used teen alcohol-use statistics from a recent Dane County survey to show the effects of drinking on teen brain development. One figure showed that 17 percent of high school students who drink alcohol at least once a month report grades of C or lower.

She is a profession? She is wrong. She is confusing correlative evidence with causative. There is a correlation between grades and drinking, however, it doesn't prove that one leads to the other.

Also, cognitive strategies are much more effective over the long term than behavioral methods. Behavioral methods deal with behavior but not the rationale behind that behavior.

Instead of learning how to identify and deal with emotions, these youths and teens turns to drugs and alcohol. Rather then developing life coping skills, these youths and teens altered their consciousness to avoid life. Of course they stop growing emotionally and stopped learning how to function in a mature manner when they started abusing mind-altering substances. Unhealthy and harmful perceptions, attitudes, and levels of selfishness abound in those who often resort to drugs and alcohol. Why? Because it's all about them and how they feel... which has long ago overridden self control, self respect, and self esteem.

thats funny. ljs called someone out last week and misspelled in the same post. hahahaha

ljs64, since you're calling people out, it's "grammar", not "grammer".

Looks by the spelling and grammer, Napalm must have been one of those teens that used alcohol and drugs.
***********
stdents - ???? STUDENTS
The secret pot smokers and weekend drunks. - ??? Fragment
************
Jeez........

Napalm- Even if your fallacious mind does remember your childhood events as such, that was not a good thing to post. Think about it. Oh, never mind.

Drugs and alcohol are bad for teenagers? Whoulda thunk it?
.
It's unfortunate that kids will continue to use and abuse, despite groups like Partners in Prevention's best efforts.

I can speak from personal experience, and listening to the experiences of countless others that this article is completely true.