Grab your lunch and join me and fellow parents on May 1 at noon (EDT) for an enjoyable and engaging chat about getting kids to help around the house. Got some ideas? Need some new ones? Wondering what is age-appropriate and how much you should expect them to do? Share your questions & your thoughts or just sit back and take it all in. It’s on Twitter. Not on Twitter? That’s ok. It’s easy (take it from me, the social media novice). I’ve attached a 3-minute video to give you all you need to know. Once you’ve set up your quick and easy Twitter account, here’s how we’ll chat. We will: – Go to twubs.com (this makes it easier to chat) – Log into Twitter by clicking the box at the bottom (you may have to quickly download the App) – Type in parentingtweens in the hashtag (#) box at the top That’s it! You will have joined the chat. Sit back . . . watch . . . and jump in if and whenever …

So by now you’ve probably taken a ride (if even a short one) on the social media train. It just keeps runnin’ down that track, fast as lightning, as we try to keep up. Maybe your kids are on Twitter – either following or being followed – and the only “tweets” you know are the ones from the birds in your Spring-filled yard. Wanna catch on? Wanna know a little bit more about Twitter? It’s really easy. Take it from me, the one who’s taken the slow train to social media. Put your little toe in the Twitter tub, and get it wet – because up and coming are some cool and easy chats about the stuff we parents like to chat about — stuff about chores (as in the kids doing some around the house), sleep, just plain tolerating this teen behavior, and good stuff like that. We’ll get the conversation rolling and take it where it goes. We can learn sooo much from each other. Who’s doing what, when; what works well and …

Is your teen getting enough sleep? Unless he or she is one of the 8% of teens who gets between 8 1/2 and 9 1/4 hours of sleep a night, the answer is no. This topic occupies a bit of my mental energy from time to time. It must occupy that of others too, as I notice the presence of sleep studies as well as local governments continuing to grapple with the idea of later school starts for our teens. It’s only natural. It’s only natural to be concerned with what is becoming a societal epidemic: sleep-deprived teens. And, it’s only natural that our teens are sleep-deprived. After the onset of puberty, the same kids who naturally became drowsy at 8 or 9 o’clock at night are now awake……until their naturally-produced melatonin sleep hormone is released around 11 pm. Their circadian rhythms change after adolescence. They don’t become drowsy until later in the evening now, after that melatonin releases. Throw in the early bus stop, and you’ve got a sleep-deprived kid. (Not to mention the …