The Teen Life
Blog
Ask Culture and Guess Culture
“In some families, you grow up with the expectation that it’s OK to ask for anything at all, but you gotta realize you might get no for an answer. This is Ask Culture.
In Guess Culture, you avoid putting a request into words unless you’re pretty sure the answer will be yes. Guess Culture depends on a tight net of shared expectations. A key skill is putting out delicate feelers. If you do this with enough subtlety, you won’t even have to make the request directly; you’ll get an offer. Even then, the offer may be genuine or pro forma; it takes yet more skill and delicacy to discern whether you should accept.”
The Accidental Ally
It will take all of us to work towards better, anti-racist policies in discipline, justice, and mental health. We want to be allies, not bystanders.
The Trauma of No School
It’s been 8 weeks. Eight weeks since life felt “normal.” Eight weeks since my kids went to school, since my husband and I have been out for a date, since I worked in the same location as my co-workers. Eight weeks filled with fun memories with my husband and kids....
Not Your Average Teen Drama
Instead of getting together to shake their fists at the sky and dance to angry music, they are forced to stay home in our worldwide time-out while they grieve the loss of what they had hoped.
The Power of Consistency
Working with students is hard because it is unpredictable. What we have learned at Teen Life over the last 11 years is the power of consistency.
5 Assumptions About Teenagers
Teenagers are easy targets to complain about. In fact, we all make assumptions when it comes to teens. Here are five assumptions we know to be true.
Seeking Connection
We are made to be connected, yet so many of us feel disconnected. Not just alone in a crowd, but lonely in a crowd. Too many people lack the connectedness of authentic relationships.
13 Reasons Why: Making Noise or Making Change?
So many people want their ideas, problems, concerns, and injustices heard. That is not a bad thing at all, but there is a difference between making change and just making noise! Here are a few ways that we can encourage teenagers (and ourselves) to make more than just noise.
3 Ways to Help Prevent Suicide
Learn three tangible ways to intervene when you think someone may be contemplating suicide.
Good Enough
Too often we want our children and the students we work with to be the best. To reach the stars. To be the top. But sometimes, in reaching for the stars, we miss the small victories.
