The Teen Toolbox provides “tools for teens to take charge”. We are huge proponents of the positive youth development model. In its simplest form positive youth development means that instead of focusing on risk factors and deficits, we focus on the strength and promise in youth. The positive youth development model suggests that helping youth […]
Are Your Teens Taking Charge? Read More »
Every teen’s life is worth documenting. That documentation can happen in a scrapbook, a journal, or as with many youth in foster care it happens in a life book. A scrapbook contains an artsy collection of photos of (professional and unprofessional) special moments and fun life events. A journal can contain personal ideas and thoughts
Document Their Lives In A Professional Portfolio? Read More »
Today we continue our National Foster Care Awareness Month blog series on teen males with the interview of another foster father with KidsPeace. Bob O’Connor and his wife Coco have been foster parents for 23 years. They have had short-term placements, long-term placements, and provided therapeutic foster care and respite care. They have been foster parents to
Bob – Tough But Fair Foster Father Read More »
Our fifth blog post in our National Foster Care Awareness Month blog series dedicated to teen males in foster care focuses on fatherhood. Dyral Brown is the single, foster father of two teen males ages 14 and 16. As a young professional, Dyral realized that he could connect with and have a positive influence on
Dyral – Discipline, Expectation, and Foster Fatherhood Read More »
You may have read my last blog about empowering youth to take calculated risks. One way to improve critical thinking skills and to encourage calculated risk taking is through reading regularly. Reading is preparation for the future. We cannot put a price tag on the value of a quality education. No child can be
Reading Means The World Is Your Classroom Read More »
The teen years are often characterized by impulsive behavior and unwise choices. Statistics tell us that many teens engage in unprotected sex, binge drinking, drug use, and violent altercations – dangerous risks. Of course this is not the case for everyone and I choose to focus on the notion that we can help youth take
Are Your Teens Calculated Risk Takers? Read More »
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh. When care is pressing you down a bit. Rest if you must, But don’t you quit. Life is queer
Believe in You, Don’t Quit (Poem) Read More »
Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education. Children who have been abused and neglected are at risk of continuing the cycle of abuse with their own children. It is estimated that a report of child abuse is made every ten
16 Ways To Prevent Child Abuse Read More »
There are no prerequisite courses for becoming a parent and children don’t come with instructions. Child abuse affects families of all ages, races, ethnicities, and social classes. The week of June 6-12, 182, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives resolved should be designated as the first National Child Abuse Prevention Week. Members of Congress
Together We Can End Child Abuse Read More »
Eagles come in all shapes and sizes, but you will recognize them chiefly by their attitudes. -E.F. Schumacher Celebrate your success and stand strong when adversity hits, for when the storm clouds come in, the eagles soar while the small birds take cover. -Unknown When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin
Soar Like An Eagle Read More »