Looking for Gifts for Teen Boys

Thoughtful Gifts for Teenage Boys this Christmas

Choosing perfect Christmas gifts for teenage boys is difficult – they're not an easy group to please. Perhaps they might not tell you what they'd like, or they might seem disinterested in everything except gaming and sports items. That’s why we've compiled a list of unique and thoughtful gift ideas for teen boys which are sure to bring a smile to their face on the big day. We’ve picked a couple of ideas below, but if you need further gift inspiration, you'll also want to check out this list of ideas for a 13 year old .

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Christmas Gift List for Teen Boys

• Being a Teenage Boy Book

First on our list of thoughtful gifts for teen boys is this book for teenage boys aimed at 11–14 year old boys. Though the book is only 50 pages, it gives teen boys tons of important life skills and messages that they should know. Including things such as respecting girls and women, that it’s okay to fail sometimes, and the importance of having a strong work ethic. This is a great book to show teen boys you're thinking about them and want to help develop them into fine young men.

• Gamer Socks

Socks might not top the list as the most exciting Christmas gifts for teenagers, but these gamer socks are sure to appeal to those who love playing video games! They have a non-slip design on the sole, making them ideal for hard flooring. The socks are made from cotton and polyester and are comfortable and soft. The moisture-wicking technology is designed to repel odor, so your teen’s feet will always smell fresh! Gamer socks fit sizes from 6 –12, so gamer socks for teens are ideal for most teen gamers.

• To My Son Dog Tag

Jewelry is a nice choice when it comes to unique Christmas gifts for teenagers. This dog tag necklace shows teens how much they means to you. It’s made from stainless steel to ensure it's long lasting and won’t rust and it will remain shiny and new for years to come. Versions are available from grandma, grandpa or dad, so you can customize the gift depending on your relation to the teen boy. The rear of the tag is left blank so you can take it to be engraved with the recipient’s name or another special message to make this a really personal gift idea for your boy. Find more personalized gifts for kids.

• 97 Things to Do Before You Finish High School Book 

Books are a thoughtful gift idea for teens. This thoughtful Book gives boys ideas of fun things they should do some day but won’t learn about in school! It shows them how to do all sorts of fun things such as planning a road trip, making a time capsule, or more practical skills such as doing laundry. The book acts as a kind of bucket list of things that teen boys should do before finishing high school. Teens will find it packed full of fun and exciting ideas to try.

• Mom & Son Journal

Finally, last on our list of thoughtful Christmas gift ideas is this journal book for boys. This book gift idea is a precious mother and son journal that's great for homeschoolers. The mother son journal is filled with questions which require brief answers, either by filling in the blank or using multiple choice answers. With its mix of fun and more serious questions, it's a great way for teens to bond with mom. It’s ideal for promoting discussion when conversation dries up, yet is intended to be lighthearted and fun. The book is perfect for young teens or preteens who aren’t always talkative or open and is a great way to bring them out of their shell. Older teens may find it it silly or embarrassing, so know the teen your shopping for before choosing this option.

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6 Ways to Help Teens Lead Healthy Lives

Are you Ready to Show your Teenagers Healthy Habits?

If you’ve got a teen in the family, it can be challenging to get them to do anything. Encouraging them to lead a healthy lifestyle is an important foundation for their future adult years. Habits teens develop when they’re young can be beneficial to your teen for a lifetime. One of the best ways to influence your teen is to lead by example. Teens don’t usually take being told what to do very well. So what lifestyle choices can YOU adopt in the hope that they rub off on your teenage children?

• Eat Less Meat and More Fruit and Vegetables

The recommendation is that you eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables every day. For many teens, this can be a difficult goal to achieve. You can help by leaving processed foods and snacks off your grocery list and making more meals and snacks at home. It also helps to set regular mealtimes and eat meals together as a family. We've been doing this the last year or so. Now, my kids prefer oranges to donuts!

• Exercise More

There are many benefits to regular exercise, not just the burning of calories. Physical activity also helps to keep the heart and lungs strong and produces endorphins. These are the chemicals that improve mood, which is always going to be good for a moody teen. Ideally, exercise should include a good balance of aerobic, strength and flexibility training. 60 minutes of vigorous exercise every day should be the goal for your teen to get them on track to lead a healthy lifestyle in the future.

• Moderate Your Drinking Habits

It’s important for teens to stay hydrated, especially if they participate in sports. Ideally, aim for six to eight glasses of water per day. Fruit juice is good along with low-fat milk. However, you should limit your teenager's intake of  sugary and caffeinated drinks as they have little nutritional value and just provide excess sugar and empty calories. Don't forget to limit your intake too!

• Introduce a Ditch the Gadgets Day

Is your teen glued to their smartphone most of the day? Did you know there is a condition known as social media addiction? You could introduce a ditch the gadgets day in your family and see how that goes. Alternatively, if you’re worried about your teen's social media obsession, there is professional treatment for teen social media addiction that can help. if you want to know more, please visit igniteteentreatment.com 

• Set a Regular Sleep Schedule

Eight to ten hours sleep is the optimum amount of sleep for a teen, for teens to function at their best during the day. It sounds like an achievable goal but when you factor in homework and other activities, together with the early morning school start, getting enough sleep can be challenging. Set a regular schedule and encourage your teens to have at least an hour of quiet time before going to bed. It also helps if electronic gadgets are switched off for the night. You too, Mom.

• Help Them Manage Stress

Being a teen can be very stressful, and teens don’t always know how to deal with their stressful lifestyles. The tips mentioned above are very beneficial, together with distractions, relaxation exercises, and talking. Being a positive role mode for your teen l is another way to teach teens stress management techniques.

Being a teen isn’t always easy, but with love and support from their family, teens can lead a healthy lifestyle and have a brighter future.  So can you! Are you ready to lead by example?

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5 Unusual Behaviors of Your Teens

If there’s a teenager in your family, life can be very tumultuous, for the teenager and for everyone around them. When your child reaches the age of 12 or 13, a sudden change comes about, and they find themselves going through a series of emotional and physical changes. All of a sudden they start behaving in very unusual ways, some of which can be very worrying. It can be difficult for the inexperienced parent to know whether the behaviors of their teen are normal, or if it’s an indication there might be something seriously wrong. So, what are some unusual behaviors of your teens that may be of concern?

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Here are 5 Unusual TEEN Behaviors that should Concern Parents

1. Shunning Social Interaction

There are times when your teen wants nothing to do with you. It’s only natural for them to want some independence. It’s also perfectly normal for them to feel you and older generations don’t understand them. This type of behavior becomes abnormal when they start to shun all forms of social activity, even with their peers. If they won’t come out of their room, even when their friends come calling, this could be an indication of an underlying problem.  

2. Extreme Sadness or Anxiety

It’s perfectly normal to feel sad or depressed from time to time. Even if these feelings last for a couple of days, you shouldn’t worry. If your teen's sadness lasts for more than a few weeks, it could be a sign of mental illness. Similarly, if their sadness seems to be getting progressively worse, they could be developing depression or social anxiety disorder. In which case they’ll need to be treated by a professional who knows what is the treatment for anxiety.   

3. Risky Behavior

Teens are curious; they just can’t help it. It’s an age when they want to experiment with certain things, such as alcohol, drugs, and sex. If their experimentation becomes extreme, this is a time to worry. Professional help is available if your teen is struggling with an addiction. Research how to help your teenager who may have become depressed and developed and addiction.

4. Physical Changes

A teenagers body goes through a number of different changes as it grows and develops. There are also some very powerful hormone surges taking place. One thing that happens is that teens need a lot of sleep. There is, however, a fine line between normal and excessive sleeping. If they seem to be doing nothing but sleeping, there might be a problem. Changes in eating habits are also a common result of all the changes that teens are going through, but you should seek professional advice if your teen's appetite is reduced, they’re not eating at all, or they're experiencing extreme fluctuations in weight.

5. Harming Themselves

If your teen is feeling particularly angry or depressed, they could start self-harming. It might not just be themselves that they’re harming either. If your teen is suffering from a mental illness, it might lead to them harming others. This could be their pets, parents, or peers. Be aware of any usual anger or new cuts on their arms.

Nobody has ever said raising kids is easy. There are times, particularly during kids' teenage years, that you’ll think they’re from another planet and you can’t believe they’re the same adorable toddler you once knew. Your child’s teen years can be very traumatic for everyone concerned, but don't worry, they don’t last very long, and you can all come out happy together on the other side if you are mindful of these five unusual teen behaviors.

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Birthday Party Ideas and Activities for Teen Girls

Time for Teenage Girl's Birthday Party, you Need Ideas!

Want to have the best party ever? A typical teen girl will change her mind several times when planning her birthday party theme. Why not avoid the stress and surprise her with a cool, hip idea. Here are a few fun ideas for teen girl's birthday parties. Enjoy!  

Preparing Teens for Life after High School

How Your Teen Can Prepare for Post-High School

Your teen has spent the majority of their childhood getting an education. Deciding what they're going to do post-high school is often a challenge. However, to ensure that the senior year is less daunting than they expect and that they're ready for whatever the world throws at them, here are some of basic ways to prepare teens for things to come.

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Look at College Options

Around 67% of high school graduates enrolled in college in 2017, and so it's extremely likely that your teen is looking at college as a viable future option. While this is an important stepping stone toward their careers, it's vital that they spend time considering the right college options. 

Boost Grades

To do this, you should consider looking at Cornell University GPA requirements on CampusReel, among others, as this will help your teen find a college where their application is likely to be accepted. You should also take them to open days and apply for brochures that can help your teen find out what each college can offer them.

Take AP or Honors Classes

If your teen wants to stretch themselves academically and be in a good position for the level and type of learning that college offers, consider enrolling them in AP and Honors classes. Not only will these types of classes assimilate the types of projects that they'll commit to at college, but they can also help boost their qualifications and grades so that they can apply for higher ranking colleges and job positions in the future.

Visit Their School’s Career Team

One of the benefits of establishing your teen’s plan for the future while they're still at high school is they will have access to their school’s career team, who can help them plot their goals and long-term dreams. Not only can the team discuss a number of careers with your teen, but they'll also be able to give high school students advice for their college applications and help them find future work experience within the job sector holds their interest. Our local college career center offers things like: building trades, welding, nursing, childcare, broadcasting, and graphic design.

Study online to get a certificate in Early Childhood Education.

Get a Part-Time Job

Is your teen lacking in real-world experience? If you're concerned about how your teen will cope with their sudden entry into the real world, you should consider encouraging them to take on a part-time job. Not only will this force them to improve their time management skills by having to balance this job with their studies, but it will also allow them to boost many of the necessary skills for adulthood, such as independence and communication. It also allows them to experience working for and learning to follow the rules of other adults. So, it can change their attitude toward following your intstructions too.

Study for Exams

However, the most important thing your teen should do before they leave high school is study for exams, which gets them in a good position for their future, whether they want to go to college or go straight into the world of work. To help teenagers achieve their full potential, there are many resources online that can help teens study and excel at their end of high school tests. CLEP tests are great tests for college.

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How to Help Protect Your Teen From Mental Health Disorders

Keeping Teens Safe

From their very first days, your mission as a parent has been to keep your children safe from harm. This involves taking proactive steps to ensure their safety and make sure they grow to understand the potential for negative consequences to their actions. It's so hard to know how to help protect your teen from mental health disorders. Protecting your children from harm is a lifelong job.

Like many parents, you likely sought to accomplish this goal by teaching them good eating habits and how totake care of themselves physically. However, the mental challenges that children face, particularly when they

transition into their teenage years, might not have been on your radar quite as much.

It can be difficult for parents to understand the mental struggles that teenagers face in this day and age. Today, teens face a great deal of pressure to live up to a certain archetype and work hard to set themselves up for future success. That being said, from a mental and physical standpoint, teenagers are still developing, leaving them to face such pressures before they even really know who they are or what they want to do with their lives.

As a parent, the best thing that you can do for your teen is take a proactive stance on mental health. With mental health conditions on the rise in young people, and more and more teenagers turning to self-harm and even suicide, it is important for parents to step in and help teens to navigate the burden of this stage of their lives. If you're the parent of a teen, here are a few ways you can seek to protect your teens from developing a mental health condition.

Educate Yourself

First and foremost, the best thing you can do to help your teen avoid developing a mental health condition is

to educate yourself. Learning about the prevalent mental health conditions in teenagers and how to detect

early signs that an issue might be at play can go a long way to stopping the progression of a mental health

condition before things get out of hand.

It's also a good idea to learn about the treatment options available to teens who struggle with mental health disorders. Resources on specific conditions like anorexia and bulimia can be found at edentreatment.com Acquiring information from your family care physician can help you to learn more about the internal struggles that your teen might be facing.

Create a Positive Environment

With busy work and school weekdays, it can be difficult to make time for meaningful conversationsand time together as a family. However, one of the things parents can do to help teens avoid mental health

issues is to work to create a positive and safe environment. Checking in with your teen and leaving the door open for communication is key. Promote a positive sense of self and provide your teen with positive affirmation which can help combat outside pressures to change or act in a certain way that may not align with their personal ethics and morals. Positivity and a happy home life go a long way in helping children cope during the teen years.

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Teenage Birthday Party Ideas Indianapolis: Tweens Too!

Birthday Party Ideas  for Teens in Indy

Planning a unique birthday party for a tween (soon to be teen) or teenager is difficult. When they're younger, there are so many options- plus they don't even remember most of them! By the time they become teenagers, you're running on empty. Here's a list of Teenage Birthday Party Ideas in Indianapolis, your tween will love them too. Enjoy!

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Tips to Get TEENS to Read More

Turn Your Teens into Readers: 5 Handy Tips to Encourage Teenage Reading

Most parents want their teens to become avid readers.One poll found that three-fourths of parents with kids between the ages of 6-17 agreed with the statement, "I wish my child would read more books for fun." Getting a teenager to read is often more challenging than getting a 10-year-old to read. By the time your child is a teenager, they're more interested in screen time than book time. Not every kid is going to stay up late reading books, and that's okay. You can encourage teenage reading by choosing the right book for your kid, read on for five of the best tips to get your teen to read more.

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How to get your Teen to Read.

5 Tips to Get TEENS to Read More

1. Take Teens to Bookstores and Libraries 

Bookstores are far less common now than 20 years ago. The bookstore shortage is even affecting highly cultured cities like New York. Many people who buy books do it online.

Buying online isn't the same as having a world of books that you can reach out and touch with your fingertips. Bookstores and libraries are great places to discover new authors and get recommendations while fulfilling those bibliophile needs. Smell the pages, caress the covers, see the beauty of the illustrations as they were meant to be seen.

2. Encourage Fun Reading

Sure, you may wish that your teens would read Jane Austen or Charles Dickens.These days, if they're doing that, it's probably for a class. Reading a book for a grade can suck the joy out of reading a good book. 

What does that mean for parents? It means that you should encourage your teens to read for fun, even if "fun" looks different for you than it does for them. They should read what they want, even if it's just a magazine or a comic book.

A few years ago, some parents freaked out at the idea of teens reading the Twilight novels. But vampire romance novels, no doubt, made some kids into lifelong pleasure readers. Raising our hands here! When a kid that never reads gets addicted to a book series, you jump for joy!

Books for Teenage Boys: All Quiet on The Western Front

3. Create Screen-Free Zones

These days, both adults and teens are constantly on their smartphones. One way to fight the technology craze is to create zones where screens aren't permitted.

For instance, let's say dinner starts at 6 pm. Want to eat? Have everyone in your family, including the adults, drop their phones into a basket outside the dining room before sitting down to eat.

The more you look at your phone, the harder it is to look away. Taking a break from screens can make it easier for kids to pick up a book and start reading. 

Or Encourage Kindle Reading: Whatever works, right!

4. Encourage Teens to Write

A teen interested in writing is more likely to get interested in reading. That's because trying to write a book gives you a different perspective on the books that you read. 

If your kid has a story to tell, give them the time and space to write it down. It can be anything from short-form fan fiction to a full-blown novel. Grab some cool writing journals and encourage them to get creative. If you want, you can even customize your book cover. 

5. Talk About Your Own Reading

Make reading a family priority. When you sit down with a book, you're sending your teen a message. Your teen may not think you're cool, but they're paying attention to what you're doing. 

If they ask what you're reading, tell them. Encourage them ask questions. They may tease you, but you're still showing your teen what it looks like to enjoy reading, even when you have a job, kids, and other obligations.

Get Your Teenager Reading

The idea of trying to get your teenager reading can feel impossible. But it's possible, and you don't even have to nag. In fact, nagging is more likely to backfire. Remember that, you know how it felt.

Of course, reading is great, but we've also got plenty of other ways to keep your kid entertained at any age. Bookmark our site to stay up to date on the latest parenting teens articles.

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