Check out this amazing article by child rearing specialist Dr. Ron Taffel. When you’re finished reading this article check out his books! He truly is a genius at addressing all family issues.

Great article from Psychology Today! Remember: you don’t have to fix your teen’s bad mood. Give them space. Let them know you are there if they need you. Then walk away and allow them to figure it out. Avoid taking it personal.

The “Self Garden’ is an art therapy exercise that encourages the client to identify visually and verbally goals (seeds), strengths (healthy plants), and creeping weeds (issues and behavior inhibiting potential growth).

Reflection written by a 15 yr old Mexican male struggling with the pull of gang affiliation, impulsivity, explosive anger, and getting in trouble with the law.

SPORTS vs. HOMIES

Over the past weeks, I have been going to Juvenile Diversion to get help with my actions and trouble.  I have learned all the things around me affect me in either a positive or negative way.  All my actions will play a role in my future. If I do something bad, there will most likely be a consequence in the future for me; not very often do you get away with things. If I make good choices, then in the future things will be easier.

All the talents I have, or virtues, can help me in a positive way or in a negative way. It all depends on my choice.  My virtues can go either way, but hopefully, I choose for the right path. All the choices are easy, I just have to pick them before I do them and make sure they are the correct choice I am supposed to make before I get into trouble. The choices are clear.

In my life there have always been 2 choices SPORTS or HOMIES. Sports is the right path, it keeps me in school, active, and out of trouble. Homies, I’ve learned, make me feel loved but they are ruining my life with all of the trouble I am getting in to. I have to get on the sports path and leave the homies for my own good. The homies are not the right path, but the sports are.

Things tend to get crazy around here. To counteract that crazy we stack rocks. Yep, stackin’ rocks. Try it sometime. Go to your nearest yard and stack some rocks one-by-one. See how great that feels? Ahhhh, relax. And if they fall, stack them again. See where your mind takes you. You never know. You could end up solving the world’s problems.

“The longer I live, the more I realized the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, of more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.  It will make or break a company… a church… a home.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude….  I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.”

- Charles Swindoll