Continuous cycling is fancy language for I don’t really want a period; and my goodness why should they want one?

Your daughter needs about four periods a year. When teens have bad complications from their period like cramps, heavy bleeding or a disturbing premenstrual syndrome that can involve things like headaches, nausea or moodiness I say put everyone out of their misery and continuously cycle. This means instead of getting a period every month they skip months to get a period every three to four months. No, the blood doesn’t build up and there is no skipped cleaning because there is no period so take away all the heartache and stop telling them tough this is what it’s like to be a woman.

Your teen only needs a few periods a year and if they have very complicated side effects when they have their period, you may want to skip even these few. The important thing is that your teen is functioning to the best of their ability and not calling you to pick them up from school because of bad cramps.

Related posts:

1. 7 Myths About The Sex Talk With Your Teen
2. Teen Sleep 101 (part 1)

Do I have to torture my daughter with a pap since she just got her period?

As if her period weren’t a gentle torture of its own, you want to march her to the doctor for a pap smear? Ahhhh! The speculum in and of itsel is enough to freak ‘em out. No, you don’t need to have your daughter get a pap smear because she got her period. The rules have changed thankfully. We used to want to have them this early, then it was changed to when your teen daughter became sexually active or just wanted to start birth control. It was changed again to three years after sexual debut (that’s fancy language for when she starts having sex) and finally it was changed most recently to the age of twenty-one. She doesn’t need a pap smear thankfully until the age of twenty-one. Wanna know why?

In part, the HPV vaccine! This vaccine that they’ve been giving to girls for the past five or so years has actually started to do something we can see. The cervical changes we were seeing on young women are not being seen anymore. We didn’t want to know about the changes, but now, we don’t have to not know, because the pap smears being done at even twenty-one years are showing minimal if any dysplasia or changes of the cervix because these girls have had the HPV vaccine. Before, eighty percent of women over the age of fifty would have changes. This will no longer be the case because of this vaccine. Whew!

So, no pap until age twenty-one whether your teen girl is sexually active or not with guys or girls. Awesome! Oh and your son can get the HPV vaccine too and in January California law will allow them to consent on their own for for the vaccine.

Related posts:

1. Teen Boys and the HPV Vaccine
2. What Does The HPV Shot Have To Do With HPV Disease?

“Mom, did you prepare the meal like I asked? Dad, you signed me up for the swim team, but I hate swimming! God, you both hate me! I’m not eating that and I’m not doing that activity either! You can’t make me and if you try so help me.” The words may not sound familiar, but the anger may ring a bell.  If you can take a moment to look at this reaction as an objective observer, you might see a rude teenager. Another parent might see an angry teenager. Still another parent might see a rebellious teenager thinking Man, that teenager doesn’t want to do anything you ask her to do. What I am hoping you get a glimpse of is the defiance they use and begin to wonder why such defiance over food and a sport; seriously, why such a strong reaction? It has to be about more than what it seems to be about.

Now, I want you to consider what if the food being prepared another way created a fear they were going to be eating something that was against their moral fiber a perfect example is vegetarianism. What if the activity was going to put them in a situation where they knew no one and they had to make new friends or just be the outsider in the group. Situations like these, for someone with anxiety, cause fear that is out of proportion to what you would expect the average teen to feel. The anxious person would kick and scream being thrown into that situation. It would be like someone who is afraid of snakes being asked to be in a room with snakes. Can you understand the behavior, the defiance now?

Learning how to parent the teen you have requires understanding who that teen is. If you think their behavior is over the top. Please stop and consider what might be the real motivation for their defiance. There is treatment for managing anxiety disorders and it really help your teen cope with their world. It could change the relationship you have with your teen for the better.

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What is Meningitis? is swelling of the coverings of the brain or spine. The swelling can be so much that it causes a very bad headache or pain along the spinal cord. This pain along the spinal cord is what causes the pain when your teen bends their neck forward.

What is the cause?

The cause can be either viral or bacterial. The big difference is the outcome. Bacterial meningitis although less common is more serious and can be fatal. Viral meningitis usually improves with supportive care even though the teen can still be very uncomfortable.

One type of bacterial meningitis that is particularly potentially dangerous is Neisseria Meningitidis. This is the type that can occur in clusters especially in tight living situations like dorms and military campuses. People seem to get sick very quickly and by the time they seek care they are sicker than their family realized. Of the two types, 0.9-1.5 people are going to get this type of meningitis in a year in the United States.

How does your teen get it?

The N. Meningitidis likes to live in the nose and the throat. It is spread through droplets and sits growing for about 3-4 days in which time it is spread to other people. Some people are what we call carriers and they always have the organism living in their nose or throat.

What are some of the signs?

The signs of meningitis are a quick onset of fever, bad headache, nausea, light sensitivity, vomiting and neck stiffness. Sometimes there is a rash that can be on the hands or feet, or tiny dots of blood red rash all over the body, but this might not come until later in the illness when the person is very sick. There can sometimes be lethargy which is a really rag doll way of acting not just tired.

How is it treated?

N. Meningitis is treated with antibiotics given strait into the blood. Even after the antibiotics are started infected patients may still die, but in more cases than not the antibiotics help. For those who live with the infected person they can sometimes be treated with antibiotics given as a shot or two days of tablets taken by mouth to prevent them from getting them disease.

How is it prevented?

It is very hard to prevent N. Meningitidis. The best things are more common sense like not drinking after someone who is ill and washing your hands especially after blowing the nose or coughing. There is a vaccine with four types of N Meningitidis in it, but this does not include the most common type B of N. Meningitidis in the US. Looking for the signs and getting medical help as soon as possible are other ways you can prevent a deadly outcome of this type of meningitis and it is not always guaranteed.

Resources

CDC 

WebMD

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Sleep is so important. Your teen should be getting on average nine to nine and a half hours of sleep daily. Your teen is going to have a tough time sleeping if the pre-bedtime conversation they had with you is rough and tumble how much more a conversation that may decide their social standing in school the next day. Their brain keeps thinking long after they’ve stopped texting making it difficult for them to fall asleep. This can add to the moodiness you get the next day.

It most certainly is a good idea to put this in the “Cell Phone Rules” before you get your teen a cell phone, but more importantly it is wise to consider rules for all types of social media before bedtime. Texting or IMing unlike walking in on your teen when a friend is visiting may not be very obvious to you so consider when approaching your teen, surveying their environment. When they seem distracted or particularly moody, don’t always take it personally, they may have some other social thing going on. If you think the time spent on the phone is creeping into important sleep or down time, add these rules to the preexisting “No texting at the table or in front of adults like grandma rules.” Remember some teens are good enough to text without even looking at their phone so a lot of “Hmmms” and “Uh-huhs” can mean they’re distracted.

Cells phones are an important communication device, but everything needs a limit. Being aware is one of the first things you can do to anticipate what might be a problem with your teen having a cell phone.

Related posts:

1. Does my Teen Really Need a Cell Phone?
2. My Teen Is So Lazy!
3. Is Your Teen Aware of Their Choices?

So just in case you were thinking your teen should just “hang out” over the summer, here are some healthier options to their dreamlike relaxing schedule.

1. Move it

This sounds easy. Exercise, exercise and more exercise, but to many teens exercise means walking around the mall and ending at the food court or walking over a friend’s house and eating hot Cheetos on their couch. Moving enough to make a difference in weight is more than what they teach in physical education. They have to increase their heart rate to 200 or more and they need to sweat a lot! Panting is fine when your teen is out of shape, but if there is a wheeze too you may want to see your doctor. You can help by having them bike or walk everywhere in the summer. The cost of not carrying a back pack and walking from class to class is a big part of maintaining weight for some teens so to substitute it with a daily training or sport schedule is more than enough to maintain or lose weight.

2. Healthy options

It’s great the deals you get on the warehouse store packaging, but your teen may take this as a challenge to finish the box before the week is out. You can help by buying healthy snacks to have around. This way if they’re going to snack on something naughty from the corner store they have to walk there and back to eat it! Don’t make it easy for them, buy smart with fruits and veggies and make it easy for them. If you buy fruit display the fruit in the center of the dining table or better, cut it up so it is very easy to grab and snack on instead of the bag of chips. You can also decrease eating out at restaurants and provide low calorie drinks to prevent drinking calories (juice or soda it doesn’t matter). These are smart changes they can maintain throughout the year and continue their weight loss or maintenance.

3. Summer Review

Yes, school is out, but this is when all the IQ (Intelligence quotient) points go out the window. Teens struggle in the first few weeks of school because they need to review the previous year’s school work in order to learn what they need to for the current year. Get your teen to tutor someone in an easier subject they can earn money or volunteer hours while they do it. Or, just get them reviewing old material in a structured format. This will give them a huge advantage when school starts and give structure to an otherwise too relaxing day.

4. Get Ahead

They can also take a course that advances the subject matter or is simply a subject of interest like in a desired field at the local university. The summer is no time to have your teen’s brain go to rot. And sure they need a break, but one course isn’t nearly as demanding as six or eight. Let them take a very hard course for the following year over the summer and take all the time they need to complete projects and lots of reading. They can learn a new manual labor skill like gardening, building or electrical work. These will also get your teen walking around and spending less time in front of your pantry.

5. Summer Internship

Summer is a great time to network for your teen. They may or may not have Donald trump money, but they can certainly schmooze like he does. If your teen is interested in something like architecture or law why not have them call a local office and ask if they can do something like answer phones, organize files or do some background research? These are opportunities for people in the field to get to know your teen on a personal level and potentially write letters for graduate or post-graduate school. It is also a smart way to try a career on for size and ask a lot of questions for free.

These are clever ways to get your teen moving and in doing so decrease their chances of putting on more weight. Because the only thing harder than losing 15 pounds is losing 20!

Related posts:

1. Summer Brain Rot

A great way of holding them accountable is by journaling their daily food intake. It provides a list of what they have taken in and allows them to see the consequences of that intake. If after a week there is no change in how they feel in their clothes or weight loss they will get frustrated. When they come to you, point them in the direction of journaling their intake. This is where they need to start after deciding if they are motivated enough to lose the weight in the first place.

Accountability without you having to nag, or complain, or point things out really, without you having to be the bad guy, is a way to give your teen the tools they need to see consequences of their behavior good or bad. Have them write down what they have eaten every day for a week. They should include how much they worked out and what the work out was. What they drank and of course ate. Ideally someone, but preferably not you goes over this with them discussing the cause and effect of each choice.

This method allows you to encourage and support your teen without the nagging. They’re able to come to you for help in a very specific way and be clear about what they need to get the job done on managing their weight. No matter how good the intention nagging is simply annoying; spend your time and your teen’s time better by letting them take control of their own weight loss. After enough after work out doughnuts and no weight loss, your teen is going to figure out maybe weight loss is easier without the doughnut.

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1. Your Teen’s First Step In Weight Loss

Sleep is incredibly important and like any other type of health problem, it should be treated. Here are some tips to not only get your sleep deprived teen sleeping, but to prevent the insomnia in the first place (Check out Teen Sleep 101 part 1).

1. Sleep Time

Set times for going to bed and more importantly waking up are very important. Your teen should be aiming for as average of 9 or 9 and a ½ hours of sleep every night. This includes the weekend when your teen is more likely to stay up and sleep in even later. This means even if they stay up later on a weekend day they should wake up at the same time they would for a school day. This will keep them tired before their normal bedtime and force them to go to bed early rather than continue to stay up later and later each night.

2. Catch-up sleep

If your teen needs to stay up for an important project or activity the way to make up that sleep is always by going to bed early.  They should definitely aim for their normal bedtime or preferably earlier.

3. Naps

Napping should be no more than an hour if that. The ideal nap is very short, fifteen or thirty minutes e.g. the catnap. A short nap refreshes for the rest of the day without compromising the sleepiness needed to fall asleep easily at the usual bedtime. This is what happens when your teen naps for an hour or more. They aren’t tired at the normal bedtime and have the energy to stay up later, then sleep-in later pushing their sleep schedule off.

4. Nutrition

Caffeine is in a lot of things your teen enjoys eating or drinking: chocolate, candy bars, soft drinks and café specialty drinks. If your teen is sensitive to caffeine it can prevent them from falling asleep at their normal bedtime even after one cup in the morning. Have them eliminate all caffeinated products from their diet while you’re trying to get them back on sleeping track.

5. Bedtime Regiment

When your teen was a toddler, I’m sure you read to them before bedtime. This was a ritual surrounding bedtime that let them know it is time for bed. Now they must do this for themselves in an effort to cue their brain to prepare for bedtime. This is the process of shutting down their daytime thoughts. Ideally this can start 30 min to an hour before bed so no intense brain activity (e.g. IMing, texting, violent TV or movies, etc). The lights should not be bright and if reading before bed it should be by a dim bulb (e.g. 40 watts or less).  Check other things like environmental noise and room temperature for comfort as well. If your teen seems to worry about the day just before bedtime, a worry journal (where they write all their worries and “to do” lists for the next day) can help a lot.

Good sleep is essential to good health. It helps the brain store what it has learned for the day while preparing it to learn more things the next day; it helps with weight loss and weight maintenance; prevents the many complications associated with functioning in a sleep deprived state like car accidents from drowsy driving and poor decision making, and finally good sleep makes your teen less irritable and cranky. Can’t beat that!  And if these initial steps don’t work, please go see a specialist in sleep.

Related posts:

1. Teen Sleep 101 (part 1)
2. Shouldn’t You Be Sleeping?
3. I Can’t Sleep

Teens need an average of 9 to 9 and 1/2 hours of sleep per day. As their brain matures they are able to stay up later. So the early bed time when they were seven or eight years old simply doesn’t work anymore. They aren’t tired. The average teen is going to become tired around 10 or 10.30p.  After a brief transition period (10-30min), they should sleep through the night.  This will give them a wake up time of 7 or 7.30A. School frequently starts at about 8A.

This is the ideal, but rarely the case so your teen ends up staying up until midnight or 1A and falls asleep almost immediately in the beginning and since they need more sleep they hit their snooze multiple times, require a manual wake up –you, or they simply sleep through and get to school late or not at all. This is frequently the cause of poor grades for first period class. A school system in the Midwest realizing that teen’s sleep schedules changed like this moved first period to later in the morning. This resulted in increased first period grades. Since most school districts are probably not going to change when school starts its critical your teen gets more sleep. Otherwise, insomnia can develop.

Insomnia develops over a period of time. Your teen may have been sick, or on school vacation, either way there is something that causes the schedule to be thrown off either by not having to wake up to be somewhere early like school or not having to go to bed before 1A. They use naps and or sleeping-in to catch-up on sleep and this ruins their sleep deficit (the degree of sleepiness they have at bedtime) so they stay up because they’re not tired. Over time they can stay up all night because they lie there unable to fall asleep when they should. Instead, they fall asleep when they shouldn’t like in class, while driving, at work, during their sport or anywhere.

This is how insomnia develops in most teens. In part two of this series, there will be tips on how you can prevent insomnia or manage it if your teen already seems to be having difficulty sleeping.

Related posts:

1. Teen Sleep 101 (part 2): The Solution
2. I Can’t Sleep
3. Teen Eating Disorders 101: Just the Basics

Yes, teens at this age really need reproductive health services. They need things like STD (sexually transmitted disease) testing, birth control and oh yeah, health checks.  This age group would otherwise be so healthy that they avoid health care until their thirties when they realize things have gotten worse that could have been prevented in their twenties.  It’s important to encourage your teen to go to the doctor, but if they think that you’re going to get a bill for their birth control, they don’t go.

Be aware as a parent that although your teen has made it out of high school and is comfortably in college or whichever thereafter high school they are doing, that they are still aware of your preference for their sexual abstinence. Yet, this is harder since they are technically adults and have more freedom. Only parents and teens themselves understand how much growing up they still have to, but at least you should expect that your teen will date and possibly become sexually active. Let that fact be out in the open and encourage your teen to get yearly physicals, which include reproductive health checks. Don’t let their fear of you being disappointed in their age appropriate behavior stop them from getting the care they need and learning a good habit of seeing the doctor preventively rather than in crisis.

Medical health check list:

1. Immunizations (booster to tetanus or pertussis, tuberculosis screening, Meningitis, HPV for girls and boys)

2. Check that any chronic conditions like asthma, seizures or diabetes are being managed as they should

3. Screening for any family health problems like thyroid or cholesterol disease, age-appropriate problems likes eating disorders and substance use problems should also be discussed.

4. Reminders about testicular exams, breast exams, skin cancer prevention and healthy eating practices that prevent diabetes, overweight, joint problems and heart disease.

5.  Any medical complaints that they have had recently.

Reproductive health check list:

1. Sexually transmitted disease testing (Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, HIV and Syphilis)

2. Birth Control (especially long term methods like implanon or an IUD)

3. Pap smears (the first pap is now delayed until the age of 21 years old).

4. Sexual health questions answered like genital discharges, painful intercourse or irregular periods

Related posts:

1. The Interesting Way Teens Think
2. What Does The HPV Shot Have To Do With HPV Disease?
3. 5 Amazing Things Teens Did This Week