New guidelines for sex education will be released in a few weeks, but the Government will shy away from ordering schools to teach more than basic biology. The Ministry of Education is due to release the new blueprint in December, nine months after an advisory panel recommended teens be taught respectful attitudes as a core Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Teenagers’
Cognitive change in the brain and teenagers’ behaviour
Friday, September 12th, 2014
Teenagers can do the craziest things. They drive at high speeds. They stand around outside loud parties and smoke weed in front of the cops. They guzzle liquor. They insult their parents – or lie to them – and feel no remorse, because, of course, their parents are idiots. It is easy to blame peer Read more
How to raise happy teenagers
Tuesday, July 8th, 2014
As I make my way to meet parenting gurus Janey Downshire and Naella Grew for a nice grown-up cup of tea in a smart London café, it dawns on me that, if I am really going to test their teenager parenting skills, I ought to turn up in role. First I should be late, irked Read more
Choosing to believe
Tuesday, April 1st, 2014
“You believe in God? Jesus!” The irony was lost on my friend. The only funny thing he’d picked up on was that I could believe in God. I get it. As a leftie, organic pasta, and free-the-gay-whale type, people tend to think I’m atheist. At a stretch, I’m middle class enough to be a casual Buddhist Read more
Adoption “made my life more full”
Friday, March 28th, 2014
It’s what they talk about in movies and soap operas; 15-years-old, Catholic and pregnant. The daughter of a well known policeman, to the son of a well known Catholic school principal. The shame. The embarrassment. The scandal. Well, that was me, the 15-year-old girl, and from the moment I snuck to the doctors to have Read more
Internet pornography has teens going R18 on sex questions
Friday, November 1st, 2013A study of what teenagers really want to know about sex has revealed anxiety about being “normal”, and the clear influence of internet pornography. Researchers from Family Planning put question boxes in sex education classes at five high schools across New Zealand last year. Students from years 9 to 12 were able to post their Read more
I’m glad my parents were hard on me
Friday, July 5th, 2013
My mother used to say a phrase I’ll never forget. As a teenager, there were times that I would refuse to do as she asked, would stomp my feet in anger, or argue that she didn’t love me. But she would always reply, “Wait until you’re a mother and you’ll see why I worry about Read more
Coping with cyber-bullying
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013
What can be more painful to a parent than losing a child to suicide? The problem of cyberbullying was brought to national attention several years ago by the passing of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who committed suicide subsequent to cyberbullying by Lori Drew, the mother of another girl. Despite years of public campaigns and passage of Read more
Kiwi kids very spiritual – not to be confused with religion
Friday, April 5th, 2013
The new deputy principal of Nga Tawa Diocesan School for Girls thinks New Zealand children are very spiritual beings. He said, for instance, New Zealand children were very in tune with their environment. “And this is not to be confused with religion, this is not about religion.” After studying in India Kannan came to Rotorua Read more
The facts about eating disorders
Thursday, March 14th, 2013
Eating Disorders are among some of the most serious and challenging mental illnesses that affect our children and adolescents. Recent research suggeststhat up to 75% of adolescent girls view themselves as overweight or needing to lose weight and around a quarter of our teenagers are experimenting with dangerous dieting behaviour, such as taking laxatives and severely restricting Read more