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Five Ways to Keep Your Teens Busy During Winter Break

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Turn-About Ranch is a place where old-time values such as hard work, honesty, respect, teamwork and accountability are the standard. Teens thrive in the unique environment of this spirited working cow-and-horse ranch. The objective of Turn-About Ranch is to provide a hard-hitting, high-impact therapeutic program that will remold and turn around the lives of rebellious teens.

Winter is a great time to enroll your teen in a wilderness program!

Phoenix Outdoor is a licensed wilderness-based substance abuse and chemical dependency treatment program for teenagers ages 13-17.

SUWS of the Carolinas is a therapeutic wilderness program that uses the outdoors as an alternative to conventional treatment environments, while engaging students using traditional therapeutic methods.

Adirondack Leadership Expeditions is a character development wilderness program that promotes personal growth through focused experiences. The forested, mountain setting removes urban distractions to allow students room to gain insight into their core values and accept responsibility for their choices.

Five Ways to Keep Your Teens Busy During Winter Break

Teenagers everywhere are anxiously awaiting a break from the daily grind of school, homework and tests. But going into winter break without a plan vastly increases the chances that your teens will use their free time to get into trouble.

Keep Your Teens Busy During Winter Break

Here are a few ways your teens can make productive use of their winter vacation:

Earn Spending Money. Although winter break isn't long enough to get a "real" job, many teens make a little extra spending money by babysitting, shoveling snow off driveways or helping others clean house after the holidays. These odd jobs will keep your teens occupied and make them less dependent on you for all of their expenses without making winter break one big chore.

Volunteer. There's no time like the holidays to give back to those in need. Local soup kitchens, churches, food banks and hospitals are always in need of a helping hand. Your teens can also get involved with a toy drive or adopt-a-family-in-need program, or raise money for a cause close to their heart.

Get Organized. In the past few months, hectic schedules and school stress have probably contributed to your teens' room looking more like a jungle than a study area. As new gifts come in with the holidays, encourage your teens to donate the clothes, books and other belongings they no longer use. A thorough reorganization and cleaning will help ensure the next semester gets off to a good start.

Spend Time as a Family. The holidays are a busy time for everyone, but they're also an ideal time for family bonding. Schedule family game night, movie night or an evening of games in the park, and make sure everyone makes it a priority to be there. If your extended family lives nearby, winter break provides a rare opportunity for your teens to get to know their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins a little better.

How to Help Your Depressed Teen

Many people do not take the problem of teenage depression seriously. In fact, many people do not even believe that teenagers can actually get depressed.

This conflict stems from the fact that the majority of adults do not understand what teenage depression is. The reality is that it is much more than a sullen mood and bouts of sadness. It is an actual medical condition that can have devastating, permanent effects on a teenager's life.

Defining Teenage Depression

Depression is a mental illness that can occur in teenagers in much the same way that it manifests itself in adults. A significant difference is that teens are dependent on their parents or other caregivers to provide the medical attention they need, whereas adults are free to go to the doctor on their own.

In many cases, parents or other adults fail to acknowledge the fact that teenagers can, and do, get depressed. They tend to write off the moody, sullen teenager as acting out or one who is simply unhappy about something.

Learn more about ways to help your depressed child >>

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