I always love it when someone captures my thinking. Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska has an opion piece in the New York Times about the value of hard physical work for teenagers. He calls adolescence a greenhouse phase, I call it a training ground for adulthood. When parents provide everything for their teenagers and...
Read more →I am very excited to have so many new readers. It helps with motivation. It tells me that what I am doing matters. It also reinforces the sense of obligation to others which makes it necessary to continue. So, thank you. I would also love to hear from you—questions, comments, other topics you would...
Read more →Allow me a minor rant. A young adult patient who had a brain tumor removed was trying to figure out the next step. So, he was seen by a very well-regarded program. The outcome of a major workup by professionals in neurology and neuropsychology yielded the recommendation see a psychiatrist to help with anxiety;...
Read more →I tell my young adults that even if they messed up in school before, that when they show a commitment by their actions to complete college credits, the support will come. Most families want their children to continue their educations. What the families do not want to do is throw money at something that...
Read more →It is not easy to stick with something that is important but not mandatory. So many things meet those conditions. So much that is good for a person can be seen as important but not mandatory, eg., exercise, flu shots, eating healthy, going to class, studying. My blog fell into that category. It was...
Read more →Recently the American Psychological Association published a flyer on resilience. Resilience involves the capacity to rebound and recover from stressful life experiences, be they health issues, job stressors, or any number of life’s vicissitudes. Although some people seem to be born with more resilience than others, the article emphasizes that there are skills, behaviors,...
Read more →I have been pushing exercise for 15 years, at least. The evidence for the beneficial effects of exercising keeps accumulating. Exercise helps us to manage stress, lower anxiety, and improve our mood and outlook. Dopamine is released in the brain after exercise that helps people with ADHD to focus. Everyone knows these things, but...
Read more →I have had the pleasure to read the book that I could have/should have written. Thomas Brown, Ph.D., is a Yale psychologist who works with much the same population as I do. His book, Smart but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD, is a must read for parents of ADHD young people,...
Read more →One of the most difficult adjustments that parents of young adults with complicated launchings have to make is a re-examination of the dream. An occasional misstep is of no particular importance. People mess up. Anyone can have a bad semester. When a semester becomes a year, becomes 2 years, etc., everything seems up for...
Read more →The Half Marathon is over. I completed it in a respectable 3 hours 3 minutes. Not bad for my age group and that it was a first time event. 358 training miles went into the 13.1. There were 25,000 runners and 10,000 of them were running the Half. It is quite something to be...
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