Middle School Resources for Parents

Parents: As a general rule, it is recommended that you preview these resources first before sharing them and/or viewing them together with your child. This is a diverse list of resources as we hope you find some of this information helpful for your particular family and/or child. If you need more information, please contact the division counselors, psychologists, deans and/or principals.

Featured Website (General Wellness)
Kids Health - This site is great for parents and kids of different ages, is well organized, is very informational and appropriate and is user friendly. There are sections for kids, teens, and parents. It may be a good idea for you and your child to search/explore together about a topic. 

Featured Book (Stress and Pressure): 
The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Find Success in School and Life,  Michael Thompon, Ph.D. This book explores the way children may experience their school world, handle stress and our need to have a better understanding of their world. For more about the author and information on his other projects and books, please visit his website

Puberty and Healthy Sexuality Programs
KMS resources for school programing will be provided here throughout the course of the year, including transcriptions of any films shown, dates of talks/video screenings, and other information that would be helpful to you. Typically we provide a puberty talk at the end of 5th grade (May), Winter and Spring for 6th grade (Jan/March), and through science and Human Development classes in quarter 3 and 4 for 7th grade. In addition you will be receiving a letter about programing two weeks prior to puberty talks.

 General Wellness
CDC (The center for disease control and prevention) - This is the national database for health information. It offers current research and statistics, information about conditions such as ADHD, safety concerns and solutions, healthy living resources, and current research on matters of health and wellness funded and supported by the CDC. 

Education.com - This is “an education & child development site for parents which provides expert advice, features, columns, thousands of reference articles, and a community for parents of pre-school to high school students.” 

Eric - This is a health search engine for articles and resources pertaining to health and wellness 

Resources by Topic (by Alphabetical Order)
 
Drugs/Alcohol  
Community of concern website - The “Science on your side” section has a great little slide show that is helpful to explore with your son/daughter on brain research and the effect of alcohol and drugs on a growing/changing brain. 
 
The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet - An NPR spot on the developing teen brain and alcohol use.
 
Friendship
Better health, With a little Help from our Friends - This article discusses the importance of our powerful social connections.
 
Learning Style 
Schwab Monthly Newsletter - This is a good resource for brief and basic information for families dealing with learning differences. Articles are succinct, often with links to more in-depth resources and research. 

Online: Cyber Citizenship and Cyberbullying - Focus in KMS is on good digital decision making and navigating the online world with kindness, thought, and balance. Below are links that contain resources for parents and schools on Cyber Citizenship and Cyberbullying the will assist you with parenting in the digital age.

Online: Media Consumption 
Talking to students about media literacy and consumption so they are knowledgeable consumers and critical thinkers is a goal for us at KMS.   

Kaiser Family Foundation: A summary of a national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. You can also read the full report by clicking a link on their web page. The study found the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically. 

  Additional Resources and Readings
Allow Your Children to Fail if You Want Them to Succeed, Avril Beckford, MD. 

Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children,  Michael Thompson, Ph.D. 

The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander,  Barbara Coloroso

Getting to Calm: Cool-Headed Strategies for Parenting Tweens + Teens,
Laura S Kastner Ph.D.

Good Things to Do: Expert Suggestions for Fostering Goodness in Kids, Editor David Streight

Nurture Shock, Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman

The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Find Success in School and Life,  Michael Thompon, Ph.D.
 
The Price of Privilege, How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids, Madeline Levine, PhD

Raising Resilient Children, Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein

Sex & Sensibility: The Thinking Parent's Guide to Talking Sense About Sex,  Deborah M. Roffman

Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers, Michael Rivera, Ph.D.


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