Community must band together to prevent gang violence from growing out of control

By Fabiola Santiago, McClatchy Newspapers

It’s impossible to forget the image of the little boy shot at West Little River Park in Miami who lifted his shirt with a mix of tender innocence and aplomb to show the media the wound made by the bullet that grazed his tummy.

The 3-year-old was one of four children shot while playing at the park last July when masked gunmen opened fire with AK-47s.

No child should get his tetanus shot for a bullet wound instead of a scraped knee. No child should have to fear that his life might end at any moment while playing with friends at a neighborhood park. No mother, no father should remain silent while their children grow up amid such violence.

But again, for the second time in three months in this North Miami...

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Teaching teens to be charitable

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press

NEW YORK — As the daughter of a minister, Jennifer James traveled frequently while her family served the less fortunate, from the rural heartland to the inner city. A lot of the time, she went without as a kid.

“My earliest memories are of working among the homeless in downtown Los Angeles, dipping ice cream for drunks,” she said. “I learned a lot and I was a better person for it, but there was a lot of pain along the way.”

In her zeal to spare her own three kids, the 44-year-old mom in Oklahoma City, Okla., has given them a world she didn’t know — braces on their teeth and cushy furniture for their rooms, fancy computers and private schooling. But now, at 14, 6 and 4, she realizes something is...

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Teens turn to life coaches to cope with pressures

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press

NEW YORK — At 17, Maggie Duwelius is a busy high school senior with her eye on a tough, competitive college.

She’s a hard worker, her mom said, but her grades often fall short of that goal as she navigates a whirl of extracurriculars: sports, volunteer gigs, voice lessons, baby sitting.

Maggie’s life — much of the crush self-imposed — felt out of control, with up to six hours of homework nightly and as little as five hours of sleep.

“She’s the most self-motivated of my three kids by far, but she’s not one of those naturally ‘I can walk into this test with a pencil and do all right’ kids,” said mom Sarah Duwelius in suburban Portland, Ore. “I’d see her working so hard...

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Skimpy clothing isn’t going away, so talk to girls about their choices

By Cristina Bolling, McClatchy Newspapers

Shopping at the mall recently with her mom, Claudia, and friend Sierra Lee, 7-year-old Caira Moore was on trend in a rhinestone-studded hot pink tunic with matching leggings and Ugg-style boots.

Caira and Sierra love fashion and they know what they like. After emerging from P.S. from Aeropostale, they admired a giant ad featuring larger-than-life photos of “The X Factor” judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger decked out in black micro-minidresses and striking provocative poses.

“I like how they look,” Sierra says, noting that Scherzinger’s dress “looks like what I’m wearing.” She smoothed her fitted black top and matching short skort.

Sexy is everywhere in girls fashion today....

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Half of teens shy, but for a few it’s more serious

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON — Does your teen show normal nerves about the weekend party, or always stay home?

Nearly half of teenagers say they’re shy, perhaps a bit surprising in our say-anything society. But a government study finds a small fraction of those teens show signs of a troubling anxiety disorder that can be mistaken for extreme shyness.

The report challenges criticism that the terms “social phobia” or “social anxiety disorder” medicalize normal shyness.

“Shyness is a normal human temperament,” says lead researcher Dr. Kathleen Merikangas of the National Institute of Mental Health, whose teachers always noted her own childhood shyness on her report cards.

But just as it can be hard to...

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Tips for cutting down on tween girls’ complaining

By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

It may seem hypocritical to complain about how much kids complain, but I’m hoping that recognizing the problem may lead to fewer future complainers.

Too often, girls’ conversations can focus on complaints and ruminations, according to psychotherapist Guy Winch. Spending hours a day discussing such issues can enhance their friendships, but it does so at a price, he says.

Winch, author of “The Squeaky Wheel: Complaining the Right Way” says that engaging in too much ‘complaint-talk’ can have negative consequences for tween and teen girls’ mental health.

He offers these tips:

1. Girls who spent too many hours “dishing complaints” with their friends...

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Justin Bieber’s remarks can get the conversation rolling

By Jenee Osterheldt, McClatchy-Tribune

He’s one of the most recognizable teenagers in the world. The shampoo commercial hair and sugary sweet voice have made Justin Bieber a pop star with a force.

With more than 7 million Twitter followers and even more fans, it’s only right he graces the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone.

But it’s the questions he was asked that are in question.

Bloggers and journalists alike have taken issue with the fact that he was asked about politics, sex, homosexuality, rape and abortion. He’s only 16, they argue. He’s a pop star, they say.

To that, I say, so what?

Bieber’s age doesn’t make his opinion invalid. In fact, it opens the door for parents and teens to...

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Study: Teens with family dogs get more exercise

By SUE MANNING, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Is your teen a couch potato? A new study suggests the family dog might be able to help.

Researchers had 618 kids ranging from 12 to 16 wear accelerometers for a week to measure their physical activity. Half the families had dogs and half did not.

The study showed the kids in families with dogs got 32.1 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day, while those without dogs got 29.5 minutes. The difference isn’t much, but lead author John R. Sirard said it’s big enough to suggest more study be done.

Parents of the teens also wore the lightweight devices, but the difference in activity levels between adults in the two groups was nonexistent, Sirard said, suggesting the kids might have been...

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Too young for makeup, tweens should toss the mascara

By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

I figured my daughter was either exaggerating or confused when she reported that her classmates were bringing lip gloss to school. She’s in the second grade. She must have confused ChapStick for gloss, I thought.

As it turned out, I was the confused one. I was oblivious to the notion that an 8-year-old could want or need to enhance her face with cosmetic products. And, I couldn’t fathom parents who would allow it.

Apparently, there is a booming tween makeup market that brings in more than $24 million a year.

Peggy Orenstein, author of “Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture,” writes that nearly half of 6-year-old girls regularly use...

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Teen births in U.S. lowest in 70 years

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA — The rate of teen births in the U.S. is at its lowest level in almost 70 years. Yet, the sobering context is that the teen pregnancy rate is far lower in many other countries.

The most convincing explanation is that contraceptive use is much higher among teens in most Western European countries.

Last week, U.S. health officials released new government figures for 2009 showing 39 births per 1,000 girls, ages 15 through 19 — the lowest rate since records have been kept on this issue.

That’s close to the teen birth rate for Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria in 2007, the latest numbers available from the World Bank, which collects a variety of data gauging international development.

The teen birth...

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