Pre Teen Checklist

Boy do you need a pre teen checklist! Your bouncing baby boy or girl is now a walking talking pre teen. What do I do next? Is there a focused checklist for me and my family? We have spent some time (three kids with two in college now) over the years reading and applying our own methods and madness and came up with our top pre teen checklist for you to see.

It is by no means a perfect list but after getting through 20 plus years of child raising with recreational sports taking away your weekends and the boyfriend and girlfriend issues you tend to see just about everything. There is an old saying we all smile at from time to time, "they grow up fast don't they?" Take these years and invest in the family. Give to them what ever you can emotionally and from a loving caring point of view. Be their coach and their parent but never shut them out.

We hope that you contribute your own thoughts and provide feedback for our readers throughout the many pages of Planet Berry offering publishing for all! Click to see our available publishing topics here.

Stick to the basics!

• Teach them "Please and Thank You"
• Smile when you talk to them and give them direct eye contact
• Let them make a mess by using utensils at the table
• Practice proper hygiene like washing your hands before and after a chore or meal
• Keep them at the table until the last member of the family is done with their meal
• Have the older children take the plates to the sink and of course the dishwasher. Something for them to see and look forward to.
• Never interrupt them. Even if you don't like where they are headed (conversationally) it's best to let them finish.
• Treat privacy as a very important element within the family.
• Always go to bed happy and make the last visual your child see's is the smile ear to ear on your face.

We have found that if you keep it simple and keep it fun you will keep it for ever. Things that we do as our children are forming their opinions will last them a life time. How they treat others and how they view other peoples things come directly from these life experiences. It sounds so simple but the brain is a sponge and it has a hard time forgetting, until we get older of course!

Show your child your ultimate support by being an active parent in their pre school and elementary schools as well. If you have the time, and we believe everyone does, you should consider supporting their sporting programs and get them involved in youth sports as early as possible. Youth sports create socialization and departments for them to reflect and make decisions in and around life changing events. Even as young toddlers, when they see mom or dad (or both) as a part of their team it bodes well with their view and thus experiences going forward in life.

A Place For Teens To Speak Up

We are providing this special section for Teens to talk about things they are interested in or perhaps things that are challenging them. Enjoy your special corner of the internet at Planet Berry.

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Thoughts On Academic Athletes?

Safety And Security

The downside to this incredible gift is the ease of access. A child of any age if allowed to type on a keyboard can surf the net and thus over a 100 Million Web sites. Most of them are probably harmless.

To the child this is way too addicting. When they first start out they cannot let go. They lack the discipline to stop. Each click draws them deeper into the maze of the world wide web. Far too many of our youth fall prey to the sexual predators. They will mimic the tone and attitude of a pre teen and attempt to lure them to a deeper discussion.

Once trapped into the excitment the pre teen is caught up in the unknown and potential new world this person is painting. If they continue and meet over time on the net then this person will eventually try to lure them to a meeting face-to-face. Yes, this does happen and yes it can happen to anyone.

We advise the following pre teen checklist for the internet:

1. Time Limits of no more than 1 hour per day
2. Install software to moniot their every keystroke
3. Tell them you are recording every keystroke
4. Update your router to block the Social Networks like MySpace
5. Review their paths weekly
6. Ask them about their adventures and see if they hesitate
7. If they hesitate go deeper or restrict access completely
8. Locate the computer in an open access area (no doors)

I'm sure there are more so please write to us with your suggestions for additions to our pre teen checklist!

Generation Me

Tracking Your Teens

Very controversial topic. On the one hand this is a world that has morphed itself into a very dangerous place for our children. As they grow into young adults their brains are still developing and their ability to reason and plan are not fully mature. Thus they can be lured into situations that are risky for them and their families.

New technologies are available on the cell phone and even to be installed in a car that allow full tracking capability of their every move. Is this violating their privacy? Perhaps in a pure look at the topic. However, we advocate full two-way dialogue with your pre teens to that they know what you are doing (if you decide to install these devices) and why. Then and only then can you feel that this is a two way investment in the family and thus peace of mind. So think about adding this to your pre teen checklist going forward.

Will it stop something bad from happening? Not full proof of course but perhaps if it keeps their minds on the thought process they will make better judgement calls. Should they get into a situation then perhaps the response to their needs will be just in time. We all know that technology is changing the way we interact and in some ways relate to our children. A GPS is just another good consideration for the pre teen checklist in our opinion.