Parent Resources

1. Test Taking Strategies

What Parents Can Do To Help Their Child

While test scores are helpful and important, keep in mind that they only measure your child’s performance at a given point in time.

Understand that children differ in their abilities.

Be sure your child attends school every day.

Encourage your child to be serious about tests without undue worrying.

Avoid conflicts at home before your child leaves for school.

Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep before tests.

Make sure your child eats properly before tests.

Ask your child’s principal or teacher what you can do at home to help your child.

Become aware of your child’s school testing schedule.

Try not to be overly anxious about your child’s test scores.

Don’t judge your child on the basis of test scores alone.

Source: N.C. Department of Instruction

2. 9 Most Dangerous Apps for Kids

As a school counselor who has to clean up the big messes these apps can create, I wish more parents would be proactive about researching apps and monitoring everything their kids are saying and doing online. This is not about privacy or trust. Good kids get caught up in these things and are scared to talk to adults. PLEASE, parents, monitor your child online. Don't give them open access to download any app or text without you checking in on them. This is a plea from someone who has seen the trouble caused by irresponsible media use. Be smart and monitor.

3. Think Before You Post

The reality students often forget is that once something is posted online and has entered the unknown world of cyberspace, there's a chance it may never be taken back. While for older adolescents it can be a great way for students to communicate with each other, there are obvious pitfalls. It can be a disruption to evening homework, as the phone and televisions can be. Feuds between students can also be magnified online. Many students feel more comfortable confronting each other in cyberspace than they do in person or on the phone. Following the acronym (T.H.I.N.K.) can help youth and adults alike decide if a comment, thought, quote, question, or anything else is worth posting!

4. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

Be Proactive

Being proactive is the key to unlocking the other habits. Help your teen take control and responsibility for their life. Proactive people understand that they are responsible for their own happiness or unhappiness. They don't blame others for their own actions or feelings.

Begin With the End in Mind

If teens aren't clear about where they want to end up in life, about their values, goals, and what they stand for, they will wander, waste time, and be tossed to and fro by the opinions of others. Help your teen create a personal mission statement which will act as a road map and direct and guide his decision-making process.

Put First Things First

This habit helps teens prioritize and manage their time so that they focus on and complete the most important things in their lives. Putting first things first also means learning to overcome fears and being strong during difficult times. It's living life according to what matters most.

Think Win-Win

Teens can learn to foster the belief that it is possible to create an atmosphere of win-win in every relationship. This habit encourages the idea that in any given discussion or situation both parties can arrive at a mutually beneficial solution. Your teen will learn to celebrate the accomplishments of others instead of being threatened by them.

Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Because most people don't listen very well, one of the great frustrations in life is that many don't feel understood. This habit will ensure your teen learns the most important communication skill there is: active listening.

Synergize

Synergy is achieved when two or more people work together to create something better than either could alone. Through this habit, teens learn it doesn't have to be "your way" or "my way" but rather a better way, a higher way. Synergy allows teens to value differences and better appreciate others.

Sharpen the Saw

Teens should never get too busy living to take time to renew themselves. When a teen "sharpens the saw" she is keeping her personal self sharp so that she can better deal with life. It means regularly renewing and strengthening the four key dimensions of life – body, brain, heart, and soul.

Jannah Bolin Sings The 7 Habits

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