Hi friends - I hope you’ll tune in today to “It Takes a Parent” when I’ll talk live with Neil Swidey about his Boston Globe magazine cover story on kids and privacy and texting and cell-phones and when is too much information (for us parents) about our kids - NOT good? (Hint: I’m definitely more for being a “parent over shoulder” than Neil is.) We’ll also touch on the Skenazy piece from yesterday’s post. She’s the mom who put her 9-year-old alone on the New York Subway and the whole world went nuts. (That kind of “risk taking” I’m all for Here’s the piece:

Spying on the Text Generation

I hope you’ll tune in live at 2:00 central to WYLL AM1160 Chicago, on-line at www.wyll.com, or after the show listen to it here or get a podcast on National Review Radio at www.nationalreview.com

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Hi friends - today producer Lynne and I talk to Kirk Cameron. You will remember him as a teen heartthrob and star of the 1980s and early ’90s show, “Growing Pains.” Kirk became a Christian in his teens, and has been battling the secular Hollywood culture ever since! He has a terrific book out called, “Still Growing,” and his experience being an open Christian in the Hollywood culture is what today’s show is all about. I hope you’ll listen live at 2:00 central on WYLL AM1160, streaming at www.wyll.com, or later here or on NationalReview.com.

As always - thanks for listening!

Betsy Hart

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Hi friends - so, how do you feel about all those little salespeople coming to your home selling everything from chocolate bars to wrapping paper, to support everything from their sports clubs to the school? Do you know these kids sell some 2 BILLION dollars a year worth of stuff? And by the way, are they selling it - or are their parents?? Hope you’ll tune in today when producer Lynne and I discuss the “Little Lomans” with writer Meghan Gurdon, who penned a piece for the WSJ recently on just this phenomena.

Tune in today at 2:00 Central time to AM1160 WYLL Chicago, www.wyll.com, or later here or podcast at Nationalreview.com.

As always, thanks for listening!

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It shouldn’t - that’s what producer Lynne and I will be talking about today since Monday, Memorial Day, traditionally marks the start of summer. As kids, our summers were totally unstructured (and fun!) But both Lynne and I have the tendency to think in terms of “structure” for our own kids during the summer. Lynne says she plans on running a “boot camp” for her 5 kids this summer (lots of academic and physical discipline) and I admit that sounds good to me. But how much is too much?

We’ll be opening the phone lines today, so get ready to call and ad your two cents - what did your summers look like as a kid (did we even have “math camps” then?) and how much parental hands on planning is too much during the summer?

You can listen live, 2:00 central, at AM1160 WYLL, or streaming at www.wyll.com, or later here or via podcast at nationalreview.com. Today you can call at 847-956-5030.

Thanks for stopping by!

Betsy

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(Hi friends – this week’s show is a rebroadcast from January – enjoy!)

Hi friends - As promised, this week on “It Takes a Parent” Producer Lynne and I talked live live to Dr. Madeline Levine, a practicing psychotherapist and author of “The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids.”

Levine deals in her practice with teenagers who get plenty of attention from parents and school, they have a good standard of living - but they are extraordinarily unhappy, more so than teens in the past. Her experience is echoed by her professional peers around the country and in amazing studies we talked about on the air. Did you know studies show the highest rates of depression and substance abuse are in the most affluent teen communities? What’s going on?

Here’s one hint:

Levine writes that today we set academic standards for our kids that are exceedingly high, while at the same time we have standards for their involvement in family life that are exceedingly low. How true!
I don’t agree with everything she says - she seems to take a more “hands off” view of the teen years than I would - but wow she makes some great points. And this isn’t just about affluent teens, there’s so much here for all parents. You’ll definitely want to have a read of the excerpt, and a listen to the show - and pass it on!

Listen here, or get a podcast at www.nationalreview.com - and thanks for stopping by!

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