I have two very fine resources for you this week.  One is for talking to your kids about drugs and alcohol, another helps learn about coping skills and the human brain.  These are pretty interesting, so I hope you enjoy them.

Remember yesterday’s post about three common ways kids know you aren’t listening to them very well? Great news for today. I’ll take those three problems and give you a much better alternative. Parenthood is all about making mistakes, and it really helps if you can learn something from them. Hopefully, you’ll find something in these tips to help communication in your family today.  

One big trouble spot for families can be communication.  Parent think kids never listen and vice-versa.  There’s plenty of truth to that, but also plenty of hope for improvement.  Here’s your quick tutorial on improving your listening skills to not only reduce needless arguments but to also model positive behavior for your kids.

Over the weekend, Marie Osmond’s family was shocked by the heartbreaking suicide of her teenage son, Michael Blosil. Marie herself is no stranger to depression and family problems. The video below mentions that Michael was dealing with adoption issues and had been in rehab for a time. After the news portion of the video, family therapist Terry Real discusses some important aspects of suicide in teens. Mr. Real is the author of I Don’t Want To Talk About It, a book about depression in men and teen boys.