Blind spots are the stuff about our children’s lives that we cannot experience or know unless we are open to receiving data about our children, from sources other than our own children that in most cases does not conform to our expectations.

There always have been blind spots in parenting.

However, the advent of the Internet and the mobile phone transformed the dynamics for communications with societal implications that leveled hierarchies at work and home; the model for formal authority that was once tied to social structure (position) carries less significance than it did for previous generations. Titles like “president”, “teacher” or “parent” carry less inherent authority. In a flat world, where hierarchies are traded for networks, authority is more related than ascribed.

Return to Table of Contents: 2013 Winter Edition of Family Business Quarterly

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The past few months, the topic of manhood and fatherhood has surfaced in my fieldwork – especially in the wake of the school shootings, and the questions raised in the headlines about the mental health of the young men full of murderous rage.

The absent father in American life is evidenced by an unraveling …

As a youth substance abuse prevention activist, over the past ten years, I have come to appreciate that the confusion and fear over the nature of drug and alcohol addiction – especially with minors – has created a code of silence among adults, and driven youth drug and alcohol abuse to levels so extreme it creates a new norm for addiction. In June 2011, the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse declared youth substance abuse the number one public health problem in America.

Return to Table of Contents: 2013 Winter Edition of Family Business Quarterly

Bill Ryland, and his wife Camilla, have spent over 30 years providing a family life for foster youth. Today their own children are grown, and they operate the Koinonia Home for Teens in Loomis, California.

A Level 12 dual diagnosis residential treatment program, Koinonia accommodates 12 girls and 18 boys in separate single family homes. The foster youth in addition to coming from …

CyberParenting Topics on TheFish103.9FM Tuesday mornings.

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The cyber technology is incredibly seductive and encourages folks to “let it all hang out”. The impulsive nature of a point and click environment (i.e., who is going to stop me?), needs to be countered by the reality there is no privacy on-line and there are real-world consequences for inappropriate conduct.

So the role of the parent on Facebook is that of a guardian, much like a lifeguard, …

…Relating with your child about the house rules for texting, surfing and social media is mission critical. Here’s how to help your child understand what it means to defend individual liberty…

This article was originally published in the 2012 Spring Edition of Banana Moments: Family Business Quarterly – featuring youth issues and resiliency.

Barry Lessin works with youth and families struggling with addiction and he wants parents to understand that addiction happens when we are overwhelmed with an anxiety response to stress…

In today’s cyber-powered world, there are more stressors for children at earlier ages from managing your image in social media (including dealing with cyberbullying) …

The beliefs to which our children are exposed tell them they are neither important, nor good enough unless they lower standards for personal security and surrender their inherent authority in the name of “freedom”…

…Today, kids believe they can Google anything and everything they need to know, and they are empowered by cyber connectivity to meet and exchange ideas and information without the stewardship of adults….

Barry Lessin is a  psychologist  specializing in adolescent addiction and ADHD.  Through his practice in Ft. Washington, PA, he has observed the challenges parents face in supporting teens in recovery from addiction. He offers insights for parents to take charge of family life and guide your teen into recovery.

Barry Lessin, M.Ed., CACD
Licensed Psychologist
Certified Addictions Counselor Diplomate

Mr. Lessin’s Topic: 

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY CHILD HAS A DRUG OR ALCOHOL PROBLEM? …