In today’s society smoking is not just a chemical need of a person for nicotine or the desire to feed the addiction, it is in fact a social action. If you think about it, it has been for quite some time, but lately it has taken a new turn. People gather around in designated smoking areas and look at the rest of the world as enemies, as intruders. In this jungle the one with the lighter is the king. Well, that are adult smokers, teens on the other hand have improved their look on smoking a bit, or so it seems. Teens still smoke in large numbers and they still think it’s cool. They like to hide and get the attention that smoking brings. With that in mind it is easy to see why teenagers start smoking.

If you take a look back we were all glad to see the number of teen smokers lowering, all thanks to the anti smoking campaigns. In 2004 we had about 25% of teen’s ages 13 to 17 smoking, which was a great decrease from 1997 when 34% of teenagers were smokers. Do you know the numbers today? In the last year according to the latest stats, 40% of teenagers from 13 to 17 years of age are smokers. So, what happened there?

I think we can say with certainty that nothing happened, which is the problem. If you think about it, when did pressure affect teens in the long run? So why did we think that pressure and tons of anti smoking campaigns will have a long term influence, they turned a blind eye and a deaf ear on those commercials. Kids think smoking is cool and they start easy, they get addicted even easier. Well, I’m sure people in charge of this issue are doing their best to think of a new method for prevention of smoking and I wish them all of luck, but since that is not my field I will concentrate on getting rid of the smoking addiction. It can be done for sure, but the process is long and tiring for most.

There is no cure for smoking as it is not a disease, there is just one way to stop, you have to want it. If you want it that it will happen, maybe not the first time around, you will probably have a few relapses, but don’t let them discourage you. Also, be cautious of the nicotine subs, nicotine patches and most of the nicotine gums, fact is that most of them are more harmful than cigarettes. The only way to ensure that you are going to stop is to find a good motive, something that will drive you.

Each person is different, while some people can quit just like that, cold turkey, and move on with their lives, other can’t. For teen smokers it is best to seek counseling and to have someone support them through the process. It is very easy to start smoking but very hard to quit, in the end you are the one that started smoking of its own free will, so it is you who has to find the will to stop. But the result will be amazing, you can’t imagine how good it will feel just after one week.
 

It is a common fact that if we do something too much and too often, no matter how bad it is, people will sooner or later start ignoring it, or as some will say, we got used to it. Well, there are some things we can never, we should never, get used to, like child abuse or abuse in general. There is more to abuse than just physical abuse, hitting someone, there are plenty more forms of abuse that children go through today. Anything from physical abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse and even neglect is considered as abuse, and all of this can scar a child for life. A child that is neglected by his parents or guardians will never develop properly, so it is considered as abuse, and it should be, because in most cases neglect means not caring for the child, not providing basic needs like food, clothes and many other things.

We did start this with physical abuse so let’s talk about it for a while. It is the most common type of abuse and it is the easiest one to notice. We all know what falls under physical abuse so we won’t get into that, but do you know the effects of physical abuse on a person, besides physical damage? Kids that are abused physically mostly end up in two ways, they themselves become violent and abuse others, so it’s like a virus disease in some cases, or the total opposite, they become afraid, emotionally scarred and spend their life in fear and paranoia.

We also mentioned emotional abuse; this type of abuse is hard to notice. This type of abuse mostly comes from parents, but it can also come from other family members, friends and even teachers. The cause and effect of emotional abuse is a low self esteem and low self respect, such children are often scarred for life and this type of abuse can damage a child greatly, more than physical abuse.

Another form of abuse is sexual abuse, the most common type is rape, but there are other forms of sexual abuse, any case where a person is forced to have sex or engage in a sexual behavior is sexual abuse. Other forms of sexual abuse are sex between an adult and a minor and incest, sex between family members. This is one of the most feared types of abuse, as the consequences are many and each of them is terrible. Each type of sexual abuse carries it’s own weight and a person that has been through such an experience is very hard to work with, so the chances of going back to normal are very slim for some.

We also mentioned neglect, one of the most neglected types of abuse. It is very hard to notice this type of abuse, even harder to define it. Everything that you think is neglect of a child can be considered as neglect abuse if it goes on for a longer period of time. The worst type of neglect abuse is emotional neglect.

It is very hard to help teenagers that are abused because most often those children will try to avoid such subjects, you can rarely see an abused teen that wants to talk about what he has been through or to admit he is being abused. So the sad truth is that abuse is often discovered too late.
 

Kids that run away are increasing each year, and runaway kids have become a very serious problem in the US. One out of seven kids ages 10 to 18 will run away from home at some point. That is an alarming fact, even more alarming is the fact that there are somewhere in between one and three million kids living on the streets in the United States. So you have to ask yourself, where are we heading, why is that happening, why do kids run away from home?

The fact is that kids that run away from home are not bad kids; most of the kids that run away have had a fight with their parents, or are ashamed of something they’ve done. Most of the kids run away because of a problem at home. Here is the list of the most common reasons why teens run away from home:

-    Divorce of parents or the arrival of a new stepparent
-    Abuse
-    Death situation in the family
-    New baby in the family
-    Family financial problems
-    Kids with substance abuse problems, alcohol or drugs
-    Kids of parents who have substance abuse problems
-    School trouble
-    Peer pressure
-    Failing at school or dropping out of school

The fact is that most kids have to deal with one or more of these problems, but not all of them manage to deal with it in a positive manner or in some other way, some of the kids feel like they have no other solution than to run away from home.

Most of the kids who think about running away think that all of their problems will be solved, there will be no one to bully them, no one to tell them what to do, they think of it as freedom. The fact is that those kids are going to face new kind of problems like not having money, a place to sleep or food to eat. In those situations people become desperate, so most kids will turn to crime, violence or just about anything so they can survive.

A big number of teens that run away from home get hooked on drugs and alcohol and some even get infected with severe diseases like AIDS. Kids who run away have to deal with much more problems than they did at home, although in some cases it may not seem like it. Thinking about the problem and a way to solve it is always the best solution, running away will most definitely get you in trouble, so think about the alternative.

Talking to a friend, a counselor or even your parents may change your situation significantly. But first and foremost, whenever you get the thought of running away, think long and hard about what is written here and what troubles and hardships await you if you do so. There is always another solution, you just have to find it, and the best way to find that solution is to reach for help.
 

Bullying in schools is a very old problem, a problem old as schools themselves. So is that problem ever going to go away? We can only hope so for now, but we can’t just sit and watch it happen while hoping it will solve itself. But like with anything else, to change something and to try and make it better you first need to understand it, in this case that would require to understand teens in general, which is a very difficult task, but lets’ try and look at the bullying issue by itself.

Bullying in schools is mostly present in middle and in high school. Unfortunately statistics show that 20% of students are either being bullies or they are bullies, so the chances are that one out of 5 children will be either a victim or will make someone a victim. And you also need to be aware of the fact that teenage bullying isn’t something that will just go away with age, yes some of the kids mature and realize the errors of their deeds, but another sad truth is that 60% of the kids that did the bullying in schools will have a criminal record by the time they are 24. So this is a very important and troubling issue that we need to devote ourselves to. We don’t want our children to end up in such a state, nor do we want the kids to go though the experience of being bullied.
Some of you may have heard about Olweus bullying prevention program, for those that didn’t here is a simple fact that will clear some things for you. The schools that implemented the Olweus bullying prevention program saw a 50% drop of bullying incidents in just the first year. There are other anti bullying programs and associations, but this one showed the fastest results, so far it‘s going great and we keep our thumbs up that it will continue in that manner. But is there anything we can do at home?
I am sure that there isn’t a single parent that is just comfortable leaving all of this to the school, and they shouldn’t be, not because the school isn’t doing their best, but because they also need the help from parents. Studies long ago showed that bullying attitude is developed at home and not in school, so parents are the one most responsible. Positive parenting from a young age may cause a dramatic drop of bullying issues and in some cases stop bullying at all. You need to keep in mind that every child learns from their parents first and then from friends and teachers.

So don’t be one of those parents that blame everything on others, take responsibility before something happens and prevent it from happening by being a good parent that will serve as a role model. If all parents saw it like that bullying and many other problems would significantly drop. For now the best thing for you to do is educate yourself about teenage issues and troubles, when you get the knowledge you can implement it and watch your child develop into a responsible adult.

We mentioned in the last article the need for parent hotlines, why they exist and what can they offer to help. We also mentioned the importance of education if you are a parent, all of that goes for teenagers as well. They also want to help themselves or their friends, but sometimes it is much easier to talk to a stranger, an anonymous person, that will help you in a crisis, that will help you and give you advice. Also many teen hotlines have teenagers offering their bad experience and how they got out of a crisis, so some teenagers may talk to their peers and get a first hand advice.

Teen hotlines can help you deal with numerous issues, everything from domestic violence and drug overdose, which falls under a crisis situation up to depression and anxiety where hotline can help you deal with that problem and maybe even solve it. Some issues require help from professionals and every official crisis hotlines has professionals on the line waiting to help you solve the problem you have. The hesitation to call shouldn’t be there, there are just too many benefits of a teen hotline to refuse their help.
First of all there is the professional help and the possibility of solving a problem. Second, there is anonymity, you will talk to a person who you don’t know and who doesn’t know you, and it’s sometimes easier that way. And the last is the fact that they are always available, that is the most important fact you should think about when you have a situation that needs solving, there is someone available and willing to help you. That is why I will recommend three websites that offer information, education and teen hotline numbers.
The first website I will recommend is PAMF, which is short for Palo Alto Medical foundation, as a medical foundation they have a large experience dealing with certain issues and they are sure the number one place to turn for information. They also offer an extensive number of official crisis teen hotline phone numbers.
The second website I recommend is EHealth4Teens, they offer a large database of articles related to teen health, everything from nutrition to sex and alcohol issues. They also offer a great number of crisis hotline numbers.
The last website is CheckYourself, this is an authoritative resource for finding plenty of information about teen issues and a great number of teen hotline phone numbers. They also recommend several websites that deal with certain teen problems.
The most important advice I can give you is do not hesitate to ask for help, whether that is from your family members, friends or a total stranger on the other side of the phone.

We all know that bullying is one of the biggest problems our teenagers go through in school. Well, most of us know, unfortunately some of us are proud parents of children that do the bullying and close a blind eye to that. That needs to stop, because teenagers are getting more sensitive and at the same time bullying is getting harsher. The consequences of bullying are not just children that isolate them from society, which is also intolerable, but much worse than that, teenagers are committing suicide because they can’t handle the pressure. To make things even worse the bullies have evolved, now they use even internet for bullying people, which is called cyber-bullying.

Cyberbullying is different from cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking, those two are used by adults and they mostly involve sexual harassment. Cyberbullying is when a teen or a preteen harasses, bullies, spreads lies, or does anything to hurt another teen or preteen via internet or mobile phones. The worst part about it is that children that had no involvement with bullies nor did they show violent behavior in school are taking part in cyberbullying. It’s like an open invitation for anyone to tease others; unfortunately the newspapers have been full lately with talk about cyberbullies, full with talk about teens taking their own lives because they couldn’t take it anymore. What’s even worse is that cyberbullying continued even after their death, so that means that the children that are doing this are out of control and the internet addiction has spread to a whole new level.
The only way to help in this situation is to prevent, try and prevent it from happening. Cyberbullying prevention is the only way that means that you should avoid having anything to do with that kind of communication and should refuse to pass any form of cyberbullying messages. Also you need to prevent your friends from doing the same and you must report cyberbullying to a responsible adult. So basically you need to make people around you aware that this is bad, this is why we are writing this article, to create awareness of this rising problem and to appeal on you to take some actions.
The news is that the school boards and the states are thinking of a new law that will protect children from cyberbullying and in the first place to create a law about bullying at school. So be aware, after all that has happened lately a law will be issued where all bullies will be punishable by law. You need to keep in mind that after the January incident where a little girl took her life 9 criminal charges for bullying and cyberbullying were brought up. We appeal to you to do your part and prevent cyberbullying from happening.

Teen Violence or also known as the Youth Violence does not only involve shootings. Teen violence activities include fights with other teens or other group of teens. It may also include suicide and gang fights. Teen violence is a real situation in our society nowadays and it can affect a big part of the teen’s life. Teen Violence does not only mean violence, it can also be a teen dating a person who is violent, slaps and beat them frequently, seeing violence everyday in their school is also a form of teen violence. Many teens nowadays use drugs, alcohol and become easily depressed. When teens experiences these things, this could be dangerous to them, because this is usually the time that they don’t think clearly, their minds are occupied mostly with problems and other things. With depression, they might bring a knife and gun at school and create havoc, threatening their selves and other individual. If the teen is on more complicated state they might shoot another teenager or a teacher that they hate the most or has been very unfair to them. Depression can also be a reason for teenage violence.

A teen involve in a gang is the one that can experience teen violence all the times. This gang violence is what is dominating right now in the society. There are growing concerns when it comes to this gang violence. Teens involve in this kind of situation are oftentimes shoot or stabbed or even beaten to death. Teens who are members of this gang are the ones who can commit violence to other person or teen which they might kill in the end. The longer a child stays in this form of environment, the more violent they may become.

Another type of teen violence which is not very common in our society, is the violence seen in the family or homes of the teen. A form of violence wherein a teen witness one parent beaten and abused by another or the teen itself experiences beating from his/her parent. While the other parent is not aware of it that is why the teen cannot be save from it.

The most effective way of preventing youth violence is to make sure that violence does not exists at home, always have a loving and understanding relationship with your child, treat everyone fairly and with respect and courtesy. Posing a good example to your child is one way of preventing teen violence, and it will help your child treat everyone with respect. Talking to your child will also help in preventing teen violence, talking and letting them know that you understand them and their situation, let them know that you are always at their side no matter what. Be more supportive to them when everybody turns them down. Continue to observe your child, if you’ve seen some odd behavior talk to your child immediately.

Teen violence statistics shows that fifty percent of men who abuse their spouse will abuse their children. This fact is very sad to hear since it only shows that three million of children are at risk of being abused by a parent each year. A teen growing up in a family wherein violence is present the more likely the child will also involve in teen violence compared to a child living in a family wherein love and support exists. Forty per cent of teenage girls have friends that have been a victim of some violent act. One in five high school girls has been in a violent relationship with a boy. Teen violence has been a problem for a long time but statistic show that this problem is growing and getting more violent each year. Understand that it is a serious problem and we need to not take it lightly.

A teenage individual with ADD can really experience problems when it comes to school and friends. He/ She can experience judgment from others, being ridiculed; this will make the life of the teen miserable rather than happy. Additionally, this ADD is very crucial when it comes to age group. ADD with extreme behavior is usually seen in younger children rather than in teenager. This means that ADD in younger children are more visible compared to an ADD in teenager. The main difference between ADD in younger children and teenager is that when a younger child has ADD they tend to create a scene in their classrooms while a teen may find it very hard to concentrate on her/his studies. Moreover, a teen with ADD find it really hard to become interested in a certain subject in school. When they are at school they usually have their own world or their mind wanders everywhere. Teens with ADD are very easy to judge, since most of the teens with this condition are very different from those teens without the condition. Teens with this condition are very difficult to sit still and they have difficulty in focusing to one subject or to a lecture or even to a conversation.  Having this kind of situation, ADD will really ruin the life of teenager; it will affect the quality of life of the teen. When you see these attitudes in your child better see your doctor immediately. Because diagnosis of this condition is very difficult and it requires an evaluation and diagnosis of a licensed doctor.  When your child is diagnosed of having this condition, they may need your attention as well as the specialists’ attention. Your support and presence are what your child need the most.When your child is diagnose of having ADD that doesn’t mean that they immediately need medical treatment. Because every ADD case is not all the same, it is case to case basis. To know on what to do to your child with ADD, visit your doctor and ask for advice. Your doctor may present you alternative treatment aside from medications. But to truly treat ADD, medications are really important. And most importantly make sure that you include your child on the process of treatment.

Summer vacation and unsupervised teens usually go hand in hand in the months following the last day of school. Statistics show a 40-percent increase in first-time youth marijuana use during June and July, compared to the rest of the year. Where there is more freedom, there is also more temptation. Statistics show youthful experimentation with drugs, tobacco and alcohol is most likely to occur during an unsupervised time when teens are alone or with their peers. Some of the things that parents can do to prevent drug experimentation and use during these times are:

• Encourage your child to continue his/her after-school activities like sports.
• Insist on a summertime curfew.
• Get to know your child’s friends and families.
• Plan summer activities the entire family can enjoy together.

Dr. Albert Hofmann – Swiss scientist who first synthesized LSD on November 16 1939

Dr Humphry Osmond – gave LSD to alcoholics in Alcoholics Anonymous who had failed to quit drinking in the late 1950′s

Dr Ronald Sandison – pioneered the use of LSD in the united kingdom in 1952

Aldous Huxley – famous novelist who wrote about the dystopian novel Brave New World. Also, used other psychedelic drugs such as mescaline. His writings are his most important contribution to the proliferation of LSD.

“Captain” Al Hubbard – a ‘freelance’ apostle for LSD in the early 1950s, Hubbard worked at Vancouver’s Hollywood Hospital with Ross McLean, with psychiatrists Abram Hoffer and Dr. Humphry Osmond, with Myron Stolaroff at the International Federation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park, and with Willis Harman at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) running psychedelic sessions with LSD.

Various musicians such as The Doors, Grateful dead, Jimi Hendrix and the whole “acid rock” genre.