Helping Your Teen Excel in High School It's time to head back to school, and if you have a teen (or two) inhigh school, you're probably already thinking about ways to help himor her survive mentally, emotionally and academically. Even if it'snot your teen's first year, high school can be scary, stressful and dramatic. In addition to the physical changes (and raging hormones!) associated withpuberty, for most teens, high school is the start of dating, buildingdeep friendships, planning for college and figuring out where they fitinto the world. It's a perfect storm of social chaos (e.g., gossip,hurt feelings, peer pressure and popularity contests), academic challengesand a quest for independence while still living at home. To help you help be a supportive parent, we've put together some tipsto help your teen excel. Remember, if they think high school is hard,just wait until they get to college! The better you can prepare your highschooler now-in terms of independence, academic excellence, accountability,confidence and resiliency, the better. Get them a padlock to practice on. If this is your teen's first time user a locker with a padlock, theymay be feeling worried about not being able to open it fast enough-orat all. It's a small gesture, but one that can go a long way to buildtheir confidence. Encourage them to sign up for a club or sport. Feeling like you're part of a team or group with common interestsis a great way to build confidence, make friends and boost your academicsand/or fitness levels. Host sleepovers or parties. The girl who throws the sleepover is rarely the one to be left out ofthings. For older kids, you may be willing to host a coed movie nightor pool party. Just be sure everyone understands the rules in advance! Remind them that they're not alone. Teens of both genders can be very dramatic and think they're the onlyone experiencing something. Help ease their feelings of loneliness orsadness by reminding them that other teens are going through the same thing. Enroll them in personal brain training. If your teen struggles academically, take them to a one-on-one brain trainingcenter for a cognitive skills assessment. The assessment will tell youwhich cognitive skills-like attention, logic & reasoning, memory,processing speed, and visual and auditory processing-are weak. Once theseskills are identified, a customized brain training program is createdto help target those skills. The results can be life-changing! Get involved at the school. Too often, teens suffer because their parents aren't involved in theireducation. Volunteer at the school when you can, even if it's onlyworking the concession stand at football games or helping to raise moneyfor new band uniforms. Encourage them to take leadership roles. Being involved in a lot of clubs and sports looks good on college applications,but leadership roles are even more impressive. Encourage your daughterto run for Student Council president or your son to offer to be team captainin Mathletes. Leadership roles build confidence, help them get to knowmore people and earns them respect among their peers and teachers. Review their school-related papers, assignments and homework each night. Even seniors miss assignments, forget to do homework and wait until thelast minute to write papers that count for a quarter of their grade. Bystaying involved and asking questions, you'll help your teen stayon top of things and plan their schedules accordingly. Download apps to help with time management and organization. With so much going on-tests, assignment deadlines, college applications,after-school activities-teens can always use a little help with organizationand time management. Forget the "Trapper Keepers" of your generationand consider instead free or low-cost apps. You can read recommendationsand reviews online or ask the most organized people you know (adults included!)how they stay so organized. Talk about personal responsibility. No one likes it when they mess up, but constantly blaming others for yourmistakes doesn't add to your character or credibility. Talk to yourteen about peer pressure, risk-taking and taking responsibility for theiractions. Help them understand why you or the coach or the school has consequencesand that the rules are for everyone.