The “More, More, More” Epidemic
Andrea Ramsay Speers
We live in an era of rampant consumerism. Raise your hand if you’ve ever caught yourself trying to keep up with the Jones’…or at the very least snuck an undercover look at [...]
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The Great Sleep-over Debate
Andrea Ramsay Speers
When I was a teenager, sleep-overs were an integral part of my social life. And, to be honest, they were pretty harmless. No boys, no drugs, no sneaking out…the [...]
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Video Games as the New Books?
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I read an interesting article on boys and video games, discussing how literacy rates are dropping for boys, but some researchers aren’t concerned because they feel video [...]
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Taking Their Behaviour Personally
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt personally responsible for something your child has done. We have some laws in Ontario that make a parent legally responsible for [...]
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Hate The Sin, Not The Sinner
Andrea Ramsay Speers
As parents we are so often gobsmacked by our teen’s behaviour. We expect toddlers to write on walls and to throw their spaghetti across the kitchen, and we try our [...]
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Why Won’t They Just Listen?! How To Communicate With Your Kids (or Anyone, For That Matter)
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Parents everywhere complain that their kids just don’t listen to them. But the question worth considering is, how well do we listen to our kids? As in all aspects of [...]
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First Dates
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I remember my first date with one of my first teenage boyfriends. I remember where we went, what movie we saw, what he wore. I also remember the names of all three of the [...]
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Sticks and Stones
Andrea Ramsay Speers
There has been a lot in the papers lately about bullying and cyber-bulling, in light of Rehteah Parsons’ death. Obviously, this is a complicated issue with no simple answers, [...]
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Girls? Boys? Both?
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Do you think it’s easier to raise one gender over the other? As the mother of three young daughters, I’ve heard (more than once, in fact) that it’s easier [...]
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Your Kids, Their Friends
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I imagine all of you love your kids’ friends. They probably come over and politely stop for conversation with you before heading up to your teen’s room, and they [...]
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