Q. 1: I read your column about test anxiety with interest. I’m not anxious about taking tests as much as I’m anxious about getting good grades. I worry about grades all the time. It feels like my grades are all that matter to my mom. – 16-year-old ...
Q. I’m one of the teen fathers you helped. I remember you treating me with respect and encouraging me. One of the last things you said to me when I graduated was, “Call me if you need me.” Well, here I am, 25 years later. The baby we had as teens did well, mostly because her mother was ...
Q. I’m freaking out. April’s coming, I’m nervous about PSSA tests. I hate them. They’re long. You can’t study for them, not really. And everything – I mean everything – rides on them. I want to go to college. My mom always tells me how proud she is of me. She didn’t get to go to ...
Author’s note: This column is a followup to last week’s Ask Mary Jo, where a father brought to my attention the toxic masculinity environment on some video gaming sites. After speaking with teens in our programs and at our Common Ground Teen Center, I concluded more research into the topic ...
Q. Mary Jo, if you could hear some of the vile and mean things the teenage boys (and men) say to our 15-year-old daughter on the video-gaming discords, you'd wonder where these boys' moms and dads are. If a woman dares to enter their gaming space, and actually beats them, it's an unusual day ...
Q. I’m not bragging but I’m a great athlete. I work hard at it. I play a school sport every season – football in the fall, basketball over winter, and baseball in the spring. I’ve been involved with sports as long as I can remember. I played soccer as a four-year old! I’m a junior now ...
