http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston Articles and Insights from Mark Gregston Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:21:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Most of us want to avoid conflict with our kids, but did you know that conflict in a family can offer you an opportunity to pull together like never before?  If reckoned with properly, conflict is a force for change that has the power to brings relationships together rather than ... http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston/2009/06/30/managing-conflict-with-your-teen-2/ Are you facing a summer full of storms from a teenager whose behavior has become rebellious and out of control? Does it seem like he has suddenly become someone you don't even recognize? Teenagers go through normal turmoil in their emotions as they mature. Most handle adolescence without behavioral problems, but for ... http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston/2009/06/23/facing-the-summer-with-a-troubled-teen/ I have seen many parents wonder what in the world happened to their family. They seemingly woke up one morning to a teen who completely changed overnight. Their loving, kind and thoughtful kid is now a person they no longer recognize.  It is easy for them to feel they are ... http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston/2009/06/18/don%e2%80%99t-ever-quit-not-even-if-your-teen-hates-you/ Well-intentioned parents, doing as they have always done to protect their children when they were young, often circle the wagons and marshal control when their teenager makes a mistake in judgment. Others keep their wagons circled all the time, never giving up any control to the teenager in the first ... http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston/2009/06/03/possibly-the-greatest-teen-parenting-mistake/ Many adopted kids seem to have more than their fair share of issues when they reach the adolescent years. Some can suddenly turn on the very people who rescued them years before, the family who adopted them.  Why is that?  Here's why . . . just as self-awareness begins to grow in the early teen ... http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston/2009/05/27/when-adopted-children-become-teenagers/