Tips from Jason Wittman, The Parents' Coach

Announcing The Parents of Teens Free, Weekly Tele-Roundtable

I have started a free, weekly Tele-Roundtable discussion for Parents of Teens and Young Adults. It meets on a free (other than a long distance call to Idaho), telephone conference line on Monday evenings at 7:30 Pacific Coast time.

The call will last an hour. I will spend the first ten minutes or so introducing a topic or skill set that I believe would be of interest to parents of teens and then the rest of the call will be a moderated discussion on the topic or any other issue of importance. I will also do short laser coaching with participants concerning a current problem, when asked.

To join me in this on-going discussion, go to my website and fill in the form with your name and email address. You will immediately receive an email with all the dial in information. You will, also in a separate email, be able to my ezine. I only publish it when I have something that I think would be of interest to you. I respect you valuable time and will not clutter your in-box. To subscribe, just click on the opt-in link in that second email.

I am looking forward to your participation on the Roundtable.

Coach Jason 

PS: I realize that this is quite a late hour for East Coast participants. If there is enough interest for an earlier call (7:30 PM Eastern) I will do a second call at that time. Email me and let me know.

“A Common Sense Proposal for Preventing ‘Pay-Back Time’ & Revenge School Shootings”

~Comments on the shootings at Santana High School in Santee, CA and Columbine High School and a call for zero tolerance for Teasing, Taunting, Ridicule and Bullying (TTRB) and the teaching of self-esteem~

I originally wrote this article, just after the Santana High School shooting in Santee, CA in March 2001. I thought then and still do that the press concentrating on "guns in schools" and "bullying" stories are talking about symptoms (guns) and only part of the problem (bullying). We are now at the eight year anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School and today there is yet another and far worse shooting spree at the Virginia Tech University. From the press reports and the statements of school officials and concerned citizens, it doesn’t seem like much has changed to change the chances of future catastrophes. It is the same old speculative explanations and remedies that have not worked to date. Once again, I offer my suggestions that are based on a lifetime of successfully working with marginalized kids. Please take note.