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Home with Older Kids

Facts, Stats and Support from Family and Home Network

Short and Long-term Benefits of At-home Parenting

Mothers At Home Offers Ideas for Staying Connected to Older Children

Discussion Board: Our discussion board includes a forum for parents to help each other with the unique challenges and rewards of mothering and fathering teens and older children. - open to subscribers only (click here to subscribe).

Featured Articles

Online articles featured from our monthly magazine, Welcome Home, offering personal accounts of parenting teenagers. Excerpts are provided below.

Welcome Home presents a series of articles that share readers' experiences with parenting teenagers. The series follows the outline of the five basics of parenting adolescents presented in a major study from the Harvard University Center for Health Communications. "Raising Teens: A Synthesis of Research and a Foundation for Action," by A. Rae Simpson, Ph.D., cites widespread agreement among researchers that parental relationships are key to healthy teen development.

1) Love and Connect

"My fourteen-year-old son, Matt, is firmly entrenched in the world of rap music and ghetto clothes. He has very little hair and generally speaks in mono-syllables. Despite all this, I still think he’s a nice guy, cute, respectful, and often very funny. As he entered adolescence I could see our interests diverging, and I didn’t want to lose my relationship with him. Not only did I enjoy being with this towering boy I had poured love into for fourteen years, but I knew that my being an active part of his life was still important." Full Article

2) Parenting Teens: Monitor and Observe

"There is nothing more annoying than getting disconnected in the middle of a conversation. It has happened to all of us, I’m sure. We are just about to get the details on something so important, and then 'click'--the line goes dead. It’s frightening to think we could be that easily 'disconnected' from our children. For that reason, I tend to focus on regular 'maintenance of the system.'" Full Article

3) Parenting Teens: Guide and Limit

"Both my wife and I had spent time as older teens and young adults in major cities, and we didn't want to forbid [our son] from seeking out some of the exciting things they had to offer. We asked ourselves: when would we let him go to the city? What would make us feel like we had enough information to make a reasonable decision?" Full Article

4) Parenting Teens: Model and Consult

"The Harvard study reports: '...teens tend to have values and beliefs on major issues like morality and politics that are similar to their parents. If they have strong bonds with their parents, teens even tend to choose friends with values that are consistent with those of their parents, when such peer choices are available.'" Full Article

5) Parenting Teens: Provide and Advocate

"Provide and advocate is summed up in the study: 'Teens need parents to make available not only adequate nutrition, clothing, shelter, and health care, but also a supportive home environment and a network of caring adults.'" Full Article

Teen Driving by Cheryl-Ann Hughes

"Like most parents, I’ve alternately looked forwarded to and dreaded the day when my teenagers would get their driver’s licenses. I know it’s a rite of passage that brings some degree of longed-for independence, and I’m happy for my kids. On the other hand, I can’t help but worry every time one of my children picks up the keys and heads for the door. For me, it’s a balancing act that juxtaposes all the faith I have in my children against the knowledge that kids make mistakes every day. And mistakes made while driving can be deadly." Full Article

High Tide, Low Tide by A. Tokola Kanick.

"This is a solitary time for me, the kind of day I fantasized about when my children were young and constantly in my arms or underfoot. For twelve years I had monitored young children and gotten breaks only as long as a toddler's nap or a preschool class. I was absolutely unprepared for the shock of being on my own for four to six hours at a time. Suddenly, I am lost and bereft in my empty house." Full Article

Why I'm Still at Home by Nelia Odom. This article can only be accessed by subscribers.

“I feel I am at a crossroads, “ one mother recently wrote to us at Welcome Home. “Now that my oldest is nearly eleven and my youngest will be entering first grade in the fall, I’m ready to explore the paid work force once again, but reluctant to take time away from my family. “ Other readers who have school-aged children have mentioned feeling “intense pressure “ to return to work earlier than they’d like and feeling “almost guilty “ about remaining at home beyond their children’s early years." Full Article

Problems & Solutions

The "Problems" and their solutions are provided by the readers of Welcome Home. This column appears monthly in the journal.

Coping With Pressures to Return to Work Outside the Home - This article is only available to Welcome Home Subscribers

Encouraging Respectful Behavior in Teens - This article is only available to Welcome Home Subscribers

"Best of" Collections Published by FAHN and other Resources

Why I'm Still at Home (#240). This reprint collection includes several articles from mothers who have chosen to continue to stay at home during the school years.

“Raising Teens: A Synthesis of Research and a Foundation for Action,” by A. Rae Simpson, Ph.D., cites widespread agreement among researchers that parental relationships are key to healthy teen development.