Helping Your Teen Choose the Right College Courses

As we are about finished with the school year for 2011, many high school seniors and juniors are debating what their next step in education will be.  Some are still deciding what direction they want to take in life for a future career.

With so many choices, it can be hard to narrow down what courses you need to take this semester or throughout your college career. Yet there are some things you need to keep in mind when it comes time to sign up for courses, whether it’s for a full semester or just for the summer.

If you’ve never been the type who’s good at choosing courses, use these pointers to guide you through the process and help you choose courses that will best serve your major and your long-term goals.

Know the requirements. First and foremost, you need to look at the requirements for your major. Some classes are only offered in specific semesters and may be prerequisites for other courses you’ll need to take, so getting them out of the way when you can is essential to keeping on track for graduation. If you’re unsure of your major’s requirements, talk to the department head or your academic advisor.

Focus on classes for your major first. The first classes you add into your schedule should be ones that help you complete requirements for your major or minor. You don’t want to drag out taking required courses, so get as many out of the way as you can. You also want to make sure you’re signing up for at least one course that meets your school’s general education requirements if you haven’t already taken care of these.

Look through the course catalog. If you’re unsure of what courses to take, look through the course catalog. Take time to mark classes that seem interesting to you and figure out which would best fit into your current schedule.

Fill in your schedule with electives. Whatever hours you have left should be taken up with electives. In general, students who are attending full time should not take less than 15 hours of classes, so always sign up for at least that much if you want to graduate in four years. Electives can be classes that are just for fun or on topics that supplement what you’re learning in your classes for your major.

Consider the professors. Finally, find out a bit about the professors who are teaching the courses. The most interesting class in the world can put you to sleep if it doesn’t have a great professor teaching it.

If you’re still struggling with choosing courses, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You academic advisors are there to aid you in working through issues like this and can help you to plan out this semester or all of those which you have left.

Source:  Online Colleges

Continue reading on Examiner.com Best ways to choose your college courses – Jacksonville Parenting Teens | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/parenting-teens-in-jacksonville/best-ways-to-choose-your-college-courses#ixzz1NaaqXRFK

Teens HOOKING-UP – Do you know your teen’s slang?

Teen sex - do you know about your teen?

Summer flings are around the corner since school is almost over for the year.  What will your teen be doing this summer?  Who will they be hanging with?

Parents, it is time you get in the know!

Have you ever wondered where certain expressions come from? Me too, which is why cliches and figures of speech have become a hobby of mine. Well, since it’s springtime, traditionally a time for romance, why not have a look at some expressions for getting together (wink-wink)?

Great! Here’s a list of 10 slang terms for “hooking up”, and their origins.

1. Discussing Uganda – This one is credited to the British magazine Private Eye, a satirical publication that has a tradition of coining such euphemisms. It stems from an incident at a party where a female journalist used the term to explain her absence during a brief sexual rendezvous upstairs, reportedly at the time when Idi Amin and his Ugandan regime predominated the news.
2. Friends With Benefits – A relationship wherein the partners are not romantically involved, and who would characterize their relationship essentially as a friendship, which includes consensual but non-committal sex ( the “benefits” part). The earliest reference of the phrase in this context that I could find is in the 1996 Alanis Morissette song, Head Over Feet.
3. Starter Marriage – A term referring to a marital hook-up, meaning a first marriage of short duration and with no children. It’s a play on the expression “starter home” whose popularity is credited to a book by Pamela Paul, The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony.
4. To Know in the Biblical Sense – A euphemism for having sexual relations. Taken, as the term implies, from the Bible, as in Genesis 4:1 -”And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived…”
5. Making the Beast with Two Backs – Another sexual euphemism, this one from Shakespeare’s Othello, act 1, scene 1: Iago: I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.
6. Tying the Knot –  Marriage has long been associated with such metaphorical imagery of binding ties or knots. This phrase is said to have originated with a Roman custom where the bride wore a girdle which had knots that the groom would need to untie before consummating the union.
7. Jumping the Broom – In some cultures (Welsh  and Gypsy, for instance), it is a ceremonial tradition for the groom and  bride to literally jump over a broomstick, or a flowering branch of broom (evergreen shrub).
8. Painting the Town Red – This expression for spending an evening in revelry can be traced to Henry Beresford, the 3rd Marquess of Waterford, who quite literally painted the town of Melton Mowbray red to celebrate a successful fox hunt.
9. Booty Call – A modern-day reference to a request for casual sex; derived from the sexual term for a woman’s derriere, it means a call made to a prospective partner for the purpose of hooking up in order to have sex, or the act itself.
10. And, inevitably, we have sexual euphemisms derived from this age of the internet, including a favorite of mine which needs no explanation … Putting YouTube into MySpace.

Source:  Top Dating Sites

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Teen Dating: 10 Signs of Verbal Abuse

Teen dating.  This can be a time that many parents cringe over, but no matter how much we want our kids to stay kids, they do grow up.

Many people are involved in abusive relationships that don’t create any physical scars or bruises. The abuse they suffer is just as real and just as destructive to their well-being. Verbal abuse can damage a person emotionally when they must live with it in their home on a continuous basis. Because it is ‘just words’ it is often not recognized as being abuse ,by either the victim or those around them. Men are victims of this type of abuse, just as women are.

Here are ten signs of verbal abuse in a relationship.

1. Name calling – Derogatory name calling, such as stupid, dummy, idiot or other such demeaning terms should not be considered a normal part of a relationship. Even when a person is angry, this type of language is not necessary and shows an extreme lack of respect for the other person and should be considered abusive.
2. Cursing – Many people curse when they get upset. That is not uncommon. However, when the cursing is directed at another person and is combined with some of the other signs listed here, it can also be a sign of verbal abuse.
3. Shouting – Again, raising a persons voice in anger is not uncommon. But if one person in a relationship is continually raising their voice in anger towards the other one, it may be a sign that they use their voice to intimidate that other party.
4. Put downs – Continual criticism, and a refusal to acknowledge positive achievements, can be another aspect of verbal abuse. Everyone is in need of affirmation of their value and worth to those around them, to some degree.
5. Threats – Being verbally threatened can be as frightening as having those threats carried out. Verbal abusers often will threaten their victims with physical harm, embarrassment, restrictions on their finances, harm to others and retaliation in a variety of other forms.
6. Blame – Abusers will often blame their victims for their actions. ‘If you wouldn’t be so stupid.’ ‘If you wouldn’t have done that.’ Every person is responsible for their own choices and actions. In an abusive situation, the abuser will always find an excuse to continue their behavior, no matter how much the victim tries to perfect their own.
7. Lack of courtesy – Ignoring common courtesies within a relationship can also be a sign of abuse. An abuser may not feel it is necessary to make requests, but instead gives orders to the other person. The manners they display with others may be lacking when it comes to that indivdual.
8. Low self-esteem – There are signs that can be seen in the victim, as well. A low self-esteem is a natural result of abuse, in any form. The victim often does not see themselves as deserving better treatment.
9. Timidity – Victims of verbal abuse will often appear timid and hesitant to speak up or ask questions. The slightest raising of your voice may cause them to cower or bring tears to their eyes. They are used to being intimidated and controlled by another person’s voice.
10. Fear of failure – Since victims of abuse are often told it is their failures that bring on the abuse, they have a great fear of failure. New circumstances and learning opportunities are often seen simply as risks of failure, which could lead to the abuse they try so desperately to avoid.

If you recognized yourself as a victim of verbal abuse while reading these 10 signs, it is important that you seek help. Abuse is never justified. Seek counseling for yourself or for the two of you together. Healthy relationships are not dominated by one person over the other.

Source: Best Dating Sites

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Texting verses Verbal Skills: Will Our Teens Be Able to Communicate “FACE to FACE?”

Does texting limit your verbal skills?

Today more and more teens have cell phones.  Teen texting between friends has now overtaken cell phone communications – and every very other common form of interaction.  According to a study by PEW Research:

• Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month. One in three send more than 100 texts a day (or more than 3,000 texts a month.)
• 15% of teen texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month.
• Boys send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day.
• Teen texters ages 12-13 typically send and receive 20 texts a day.
• 14-17 year-old texters typically send and receive 60 text messages a day.
• Older girls who text are the most active, with 14-17 year-old girls typically sending 100 or more messages a day or more than 3,000 texts a month.
• 22% of teen texters send and receive just one to 10 texts a day, or 30 to 300 texts a month.

Is this a time parents need to pick and choose issues of concern?  Yes and no.  There are many other more serious issues such as drug abuse or gang relations, however if your teen is obsessed or addicted to texting, it may be time to intervene.  Give your teen limits, and be sure there is a time that the phones are simply turned off.

Having consequences in place and following through with them can help convey to your teen that you are serious.  Teens need to learn how to “talk” to others outside of texting. Parents should be concerned that all the texting may alter their ability to communicate effectively.

When it is time to apply to colleges or interview for a job, will they have the verbal skills they need? At last glance, you can’t text your way into employment or into a college.

In Florida, there is a bill in legislation that will ban texting and driving.  Although many know the  dangers of texting and driving, many still do it.  Stress to your teens, no text is worth dying over.  Encourage your teens to take the pledge and join thousands of others that are putting the cell phone aside as they drive.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer and healthier teens.

Watch video and read more on Teen Cell Phone Addiction.