Leslie King, LCSW

During the fall semester of a high schooler's senior's year, there seems to be no end to the details and demands for the college-bound student. From filling out and submitting any number of college applications, to collecting recommendations from teachers, deans and family friends, to writing the "common app essay"...

Middle school can be tough on kids. And while most of the stress and frenzy of these often difficult or awkward years thankfully fades with time and understanding, a mom or dad may nevertheless be quite shocked to discover that their own daughter has, in middle school, taken up behaviors...

While our title may suggest an article on corporate boardrooms, we are referring to the term as it applies to a student's capacity to plan, organize, anticipate and execute their school assignments in a timely and effective manner.

Or a not so effective manner, as is more often the...

Your child, that amazing, sweet, receptive, wonderful little bundle of discovery and excitement of only, it seems, a short time ago, is gone. Left. Disappeared.

In his or her place, you may find a child with new-found capacities for breath-taking rudeness, hair-trigger moodiness, stunning combustibility and inexhaustible argumentativeness.

So...

For some families, summers can arrive like songbirds on wings of relief and anticipation. June, July and August can positively glow with the promise of play and relaxation for moms, dads and kids who have waited all year for warmer days without homework to arrive, along with visits...

In a time when we hear about Tiger Moms and their kids' steamroller summer schedules, many parents can feel as if they had better spike their own child's learning curve by cramming June, July and August with an array of challenging activities and academic courses.

Not-a-moment-to-lose seems to...

In Grading Your Kid's Grades, Part 1, we discussed how our societal fascination with the almighty "A" can not only be misleading, but blinding and even bullying to moms and dads raising their kids.

We also spoke about why a parent would also do well to also consider how his...

Grades. As most moms and dads know, they can be the focal point of a parent's relationship with their child, while driving many to distraction. And in a world of grades, none shines more brightly than the much-admired A, against which its seemingly hapless cousins -- the B, C, D...

Whether it begins with a trial separation, or moves directly to divorce, the break-up of a marriage is a difficult and painful experience for everyone involved, especially for children, even under the most amicable of circumstances.

While mom and dad may find themselves deeply questioning their...

While some kids seem to never be without friends, others have more trouble making or keeping them. For others still, long-held friendships can be lost when families relocate or change schools, ending relationships that are not easily replaced.

However it occurs, a sense of isolation and alienation can deeply effect...

Some of the most painful, anguish-filled moments for any mom or dad is watching their child not receive that longed-for invitation to the party, not get that desperately yearned-for role in the play, not make the team or not be invited into that coveted club or social circle.
...

While many kids take their various deadlines, quizzes and tests in stride, for others the experience of facing any of these can be like a painful, paralyzing nightmare, leading to an inevitable failure. For kids with test anxiety, even a minor challenge can induce such high levels of stress that...

In continuing our discussion from Part 1, let's take a step back from the five strategies we suggested for parents when their child misbehaves, and do a little reality check,

To be clear, we were not hinting in Part 1 that parents should somehow avoid assigning consequences when...

"The beatings will continue until morale improves!" So the joke goes, and it's an apt clue as to how all of us, children especially, perceive punishment. 

Yet it's something every single parent must deal with throughout their parenthood: how do I get my teen's attention in such a way...

In the first part of our discussion of how parents can best deal with their child's half-truths or lies, we spoke about the varied and complicated reasons many kids attempt to hide or misrepresent the truth. We also spoke about how, from a parenting standpoint, trying to impose...

Your child tells you their teacher lost their homework, they didn't drink a beer at the party, and they are doing fine in school -- raising your dander, even as your heart sinks.

You know darn well that they're lying to you or hiding something. It can be very hard...

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the holiday season is upon us all again, arriving, it seems, even more quickly than it did last year.

For parents, the home-stretch of year has arrived, and for many families it can feel like they are running an obstacle course to the new...

Welcome back to our discussion of homework, and the experiences both parent and children can face in navigating the nightly assignments most schools require of students. In this, Part 3 of our series, let's take a look at how students may be viewing this frequent source of family tension. While...

Welcome back to our three-part series on what most parents find to be one of the most difficult challenges of raising children, especially in a high-tech world brimming with enticing diversions, often no more than a mouse-click away.

In Part 1, we looked at how parents might best...

Let's begin by acknowledging that there are students who take satisfaction in doing their homework, and who, without any special prompting from mom or dad, come home each day and get to work. If their parents could bottle whatever it is that makes their kids do that, their profits would...