On Youth and Teens Today with Vanessa Van Petten

In my post: Parents Step Up! What Do Teens Do on the Weekends? I discussed this video:

I really think that many of my friends started to do drugs and throw parties because they were just plain bored.  There was nothing better for us to do so we created our own activities that our parents would not have approved of.  We also would ’spice up’ the every weekend boring activities (watching movies, bbq at a friends) so they were more exciting (hook-up and watch a movie, play drinking games at the BBQ).

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(This is part of my “Operation Oprah” series to start a business on my allowance and tell my story through videos and blog posts. By depicting my comic and sometimes exasperating struggles, successes and tactics to get on Oprah, publish a series of teen-parent books as a teen entrepreneur, I want to prove that teens can reach the top from nothing.)

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Why are we so dumb, yo?
A video by three teens in Florida on why American teens are ‘dumbing down.’ They have interviews where kids don’t recognize photos of Ghandi, and think Gerald Ford invented the car.

Wall Street Journal Article on Privacy Online

Gen On-Demand: How to Connect When Everything Moves at the Speed of the Web
How gaming, virtual worlds and brain mapping is effecting kids.

Divide the Ride.com
Featured on the TODAY show, this is a great website that encourages carpooling in the Internet age! I love it because it teaches kids to go green, saves time, is better for traffic and helps the environment.

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A few days ago I posted an article called 7 Steps for Parents: Should Your Child Have a Cell Phone? and I mentioned putting together a cell phone contract.  I got a few emails asking what this would include.  I actually think that teen contracts or contracts between parents and kids are really helpful. I typed up one that is similar to what I had when I was younger and got my first cell phone.  Everyone’s contract will obviously be different because everyone has different plans and capabilities on their phones.

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I had to post this just because I think this is hilarious. One of my 12 year-old clients had to write, as a history assignment, a letter to a celebrity they thought was acting against Buddha’s laws. She chose Britney Spears and outlined the laws for her and why she was breaking them. Including “screaming outside of K-fed’s house and hitting paparazzi is selfish and harmful….” She also demands a reply on how Britney will fix her ways. You get the idea.

*Note that she actually sent it to the Rehab center Britney was staying at (it came back to sender). Sorry for the poor quality I had to scan and take a snapshot of the tiff.

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