Why is Teen Anxiety Is at an All-Time High and What Can Parents Do About It?

Lazy Parenting Canada
in ,

70% of teens say that anxiety and depression are major problems amongst their peers. There has been a 20% increase in the diagnosis of teen anxiety between 2007-2012. The latest studies show that One in three teens suffers from an anxiety disorder. On top of this, the suicide rate in teens has doubled over the past decade. Teens and anxiety is a real problem. So what can we do about it as parents? How can we work towards recognizing the stressors that exist for our children? The world they are growing up in is a different one than ours was...war across the borders, unstable leadership at the government level, school shootings & lockdowns and a physical environment, the planet itself that is in serious peril...so while these particular ones may be out of our control as parents, today, I am going to talk about the ones we DO have control over. In today’s episode, I am going to discuss 10 things that we as parents can do to reduce the stress and anxiety our teens feel. Many of the things I discuss today are going to be things that as parents, we need to be aware of. That we need to hold in check when our kids are small so that they don’t grow into bigger problems as the teen years hit. I’m going to ask you to be honest with yourself today. Take a real check of yourself and your behavior, of your household and how it is run, and what messages you might inadvertently be sending your kids…

Read More

Lazy and Entitled Kids - 10 Parenting Tips You Need to Revisit TODAY (Part 2) | #12

Lazy Parenting Canada
in ,

Welcome Lazy Parents! Funnily enough, we are talking about lazy kids today….and not Lazy in a good way like I am encouraging you to be! Lazy kids who don’t help around the house, who expect you to do all the things for them, who lock themselves in their room, who spend hours on screens, kids who don’t understand and blow up at you when you don’t give them what they want when they want it. Today’s episode is part 2 in which I share tips 6-10 to help your kids become more caring, more involved and more grateful! From exercise to chores, to forced family time and reading & music!

Read More

Do You Have Lazy & Entitled Kids? 10 Parenting Tips You Need to Revisit TODAY! | #11

Lazy Parenting Canada
in ,

I seem to be seeing a lot of posts on social media about “entitled kids”, lazy kids, kids who don’t appreciate all that they have, kids who don’t help around the house and yet expect their parents to cater to their every whim. And, the people who comment on these posts are all in agreement, all sharing in the difficulty that is parenting. Parents who are all feeling helpless and overwhelmed with fear of what their kids are turning in to….wondering where did they go wrong? What is the right thing to do? How much therapy is my child going to need in the future????

Read More

Do Report Cards Matter? What do they mean and how should we react to them?

Lazy Parenting Canada
in ,

Interms, work habits, e-portfolios, student-led conferences, parent-teacher conferences, grades, reports cards!!! In my experiences talking with parents, this topic is one that seems to cause the most stress and is actually a topic that many parents don’t know how to handle.

  • What does meeting expectations mean?

  • If there aren’t grades how do I know how my child is doing?

  • Are we supposed to celebrate good grades?

  • Are we supposed to punish for bad grades?

  • How do I get my kid to care more about their grades?

  • How do I get my child to stress less about their grades?

  • What do I do if my child is failing?

  • Should I attend conferences?

  • Should I meet with the teacher?

  • How do I help my child?

  • Should I help my child?

  • What about once they are in high school?

In today’s podcast, I am going to dive deep into all things report cards and give you my TOP TEN tips meant to help you, the parent, navigate this topic of report cards to end the fighting, the yelling and the stress that you and your child might be having.

Read More

Stop Calling Your Child Names! |#9

Lazy Parenting Canada
in ,

When you look at your child what is the first thing you see?

What is the first word that comes to your mind?

Do words such as ‘messy’, ‘crazy’, ‘stubborn’, ‘talkative’ come to mind?

Our children’s personality and character traits are often formed, believe it or not, from the words we use and assign to them from a young age. The self-fulfilling prophecy is a REAL THING and I talk in today’s episode about why we have to be so mindful of the tags and labels we assign to our children.

Self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) is what happens when we use predictions at the start of something that affects our behavior in such a way that we make that prediction happen.

My many years of teaching, coaching and parenting have shown me the power of SFP in action over and over again! I have seen the results of both children and parents who have certain beliefs put upon them and then live either up or down to those opinions. 

As a mom of little ones, words such as ‘messy’, ‘crazy’, ‘stubborn’, ‘talkative’ were a few that come to my mind. The idea of self-fulfilling prophecy was presented as a way for us as parents to be mindful of the tags we assign to our children.

Self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) is what happens when we use predictions at the start of something that affects our behavior in such a way that we make that prediction happen.

My many years of teaching, coaching, and parenting have shown me the power of SFP in action over and over again! I have seen the results of both children and parents who have certain beliefs put upon them and then live either up or down to those opinions. 

Read More

Is Your Teen Addicted to Their Phone? | #8

Lazy Parenting Canada
in ,

Recently I had a meeting with a mom who was struggling with her 13year old. She let me know that she was struggling a lot with her daughter, that her daughter had changed...that there was lots of swearing & anger coming out of her formally sweet child and constant exasperation coming out of her mouth in the form of sentences such as “you are so f’ing unfair and annoying Mom”. She was at a loss and didn’t know what to do. Her daughter had turned into someone she couldn’t recognize...someone whom quite frankly she didn’t like very much!

Do you have a tween or teen like this mom -- one that seems to have changed “all of a sudden”?  Who has morphed into someone unrecognizable? Moodier? Short with you? Giving lots of eye rolls? Calling you names and who spends hours locked away in their room? If so then you're not alone. Many many parents struggle with parenting tweens and teens. Today we are going to talk about the challenges and stresses that tweens & teens are facing today and how I believe their 24hr access to their phone is exasperating these. I want you to listen in and see if any of the stories and anecdotes I share resonate with you...If there are...please stay tuned until the end where I share 5 things you can start doing today to get their phone use under control so that your relationship with them can go back to a no-yelling, happy and calm place (well, for most of the time).

Read More

7. Your Child Being Good at Sports, Doesn't Make You a Good Parent

Lazy Parenting Canada
in

TEAM SPORTS is something we are passionate about in this family. As teachers and coaches, my husband and I saw first hand the difference it made in our students’ lives long before we became parents. As athletes ourselves growing up, we knew the difference it made in our own lives. Sports have a HUGE impact on helping kids develop strength of character, work ethic, team-building skills, resiliency, patience and so much more. 

But, your child’s success in sports does NOT mean you are a good parent. In fact, too many of you are becoming nightmare parents and actually harming your child’s success in sport and causing them to quit. Follow these 10 rules to ensure you don’t!

 

But as teachers who volunteered many days/evenings and weekends and as parent coaches who do the same, we are saddened and frustrated by  those parents who feel it is their duty and right to get involved in their kids’ sports in a way that isn’t healthy, helpful or supportive to their child. So I have come up with 10 rules that I believe all parents of athletes must follow to ensure their child’s experience in sport is a fun, healthy and long lasting one!

Read More

6. 10 Tips for Parenting Strong Willed Kids

Lazy Parenting Canada

In today’s episode, I am excited to be talking about parenting strong-willed, or as I call my own, STUBBORN children.

This topic is important because it has been something that has caused many an argument in my house in my early years of parenting and to be honest something that if I don’t keep in mind (the tips I am sharing with you today) has the potential to cause some really big arguments in the teen years. So today’s episode really does apply to all parents because it doesn’t matter how old your child is...a strong-will is a strong will! And it stays with them forever!

Listen in and learn 10 tips to help you learn how to get your strong-willed child on your side and how working on your relationship with them is the key to keeping them there!

Read More

5. Help! My kid hates to read!

Lazy Parenting Canada

In today’s episode, I share 5 tips you can implement to help raise your children to be readers. Some of them start from the moment they can sit in your lap and some of them are important to remember when encouraging your tween or teen. I don’t think it is ever too late to encourage your kids to be readers.

For those of you with children/tweens/teens who HATE to read - I include an additional FIVE TIPS for reluctant readers!

Read More

4. 3 Meetings you need to have with your kids to ensure 2020 is your family's best yet!

Lazy Parenting Canada
in

January 1st is coming up quick and the end of a decade is here and that means the beginning of a NEW DECADE is right around the corner. New year’s Eve is often a hyped-up day that many people scorn at as a holiday that they believe only sees people making resolutions and promises to themselves that they aren’t going to keep. And, the statistics would agree with you there! The fact is that most resolutions don’t stick. I looked it up and 80% of them don’t make it past mid-February. BUT-- being an optimist...in my mind, let’s say you take the time to come up with a handful of things you would like to commit to for 2020...even if a couple, heck, even if JUST ONE resolution sticks..then you are better off than you were had you not made any. Right?!?!

Read More

3. Make your kids WANT to hang out with you! Forced Family Time the Lazy Parenting way.

Lazy Parenting
in ,

Are your kids spending hours in their rooms? 

Are you struggling with finding ways to connect with them? 

Forced Family Time is a Lazy Parenting strategy that helps parents and kids connect & share moments that will ensure you build a strong relationship that lasts.

If you have little ones, this episode will give you 3 things you can implement in your family to ensure that as they get older, they will continue to want to spend time with you.

If you have tweens or teens, these 3 tips can help you find ways to reconnect with your kids and help you share more moments together.

Read More

2. Parenting without yelling, is it even a thing?

Lazy Parenting
in ,

Probably not 100% a thing - but if that's the goal then maybe, just maybe, I can get you to 73% non-yelling...that's a helluva lot better than where it might be right now. Right?!  Learn some tried and true tactics to implement TODAY into your parenting and see the results IMMEDIATELY.  From pre-framing to knowing the difference between consequences & punishments to learning how to NOT react to your kids minor and major fails ---this episode is a must-listen for all parents.

Read More

1. What is a lazy parent and WHY you NEED to be one.

Lazy Parenting
in ,

Lazy parents are slackers, right? They're the ones who don't parent their children and let them run wild, right? They're the ones whose kids cause YOUR kids so much trouble, right?

Wrong! 

Lazy parenting is actually a purposeful & intentional way to parent that is grounded in the importance of building a strong relationship between the parent and the child. At its core, it is a methodology that centers on the idea that we must teach our children how to take care of themselves and be independent.

Read More

TRAILER - Season 1 Coming December 10th

Lazy Parenting Canada

It’s official — the Lazy Parenting Podcast is launching December 10th.

Kids who get up and dressed in the morning by themselves, make their own lunches, empty the dishwasher, wash their own clothes, feed the pets AND make their own dinner?!? Is this a dream or could it possibly become your REALITY?!? Stephanie is a mom of four, a former high school math and science teacher, the owner of 2 businesses and the founder of the #lazyparenting community. On this podcast, she digs deep into the concept and strategies behind lazy parenting to help you raise happy, joyful, kind, empathetic and passionate adults who, above all else, are good humans.

Here is the most recent episode!

Kids who get up and dressed in the morning by themselves, make their own lunches, empty the dishwasher, wash their own clothes, feed the pets AND make their own dinner?!? Is this a dream or could it possibly become your REALITY?!?