Give teens a taste of adulthood

Karen has resorted to sitting with him for three hours every night after coming home from her full-time job to help him through his homework. Mason hated school. He struggled with ADHD symptoms and a mood disorder. He was sullen and withdrawn, or angry and loud. The whole family tiptoed around his moods.

What kind of parent are you? Are you a micro-manager, a sort of helicopter parent, keeping close tabs on your kid's every move, hovering to ensure his decisions are the right ones, etc? Recently, a friend of mine introduced me to the concept of "submarine parenting. Ellen's teens are doing a great job in navigating the stormy waters of adolescence in this chaotic world, so I picked her brain to find out her secret. Submarine parenting, as she explained it, is to stay out of sight under the surface letting the kids manage their lives as things come up. It's keeping the proverbial periscope up, so parents are aware how things are going with their teens, how their decisions are turning out, and being available to step in as needed.