Survival Guide, Preteen

Have you ever tried to explain something to your kids using language that they are simply too young to understand? Or, worse yet, using language with your teenager that is more appropriate for a toddler? Either way can be a waste of your time and your child's time.

One great way to bring out the youth in your kids (and the youth in yourself) is through magic. Pull a quarter from behind an unsuspecting ear, flip a chosen card out of a deck or make a six-foot scarf disappear, and your kids will think you're out of this world. Besides, any good father and prospective old man have to have a few magic tricks in his repertoire.

Do you remember hearing Arnold on "Diff'rent Strokes" talk about the bully at his school? Remember the name of that bully? If you said, "The Gooch," give yourself a pat on the back and start getting out more. Unfortunately, bullying is still a huge thing that children deal with at school.

Hillary Clinton once said that "it takes a village" to raise a child in today's world. I don't know about an entire village, but enlisting the help of your child's school teachers is certainly an ideal way for your child to become a productive human being with manners and respect for others. The best way to involve the teachers, though, is to become partners with them.

Something interesting happens to your sweet, innocent children when they hit their preteen years. Not interesting like a new version of your favorite arena rock song, though, but interesting like watching Dr. Jekyll painfully transform into Mr. Hyde. Somehow the loveable, heart-achingly sweet baby that you've given yourself over to raising becomes a whole new person - one that you're probably not so excited about living with.

Education is the central most important aspect of your child's upbringing, and as such it is one of the most important concerns that you, as a Savvy Daddy, have. You want your child to become not only a productive adult but a successful one, and a proper education is central to meeting those goals.

It's often a parent's worst nightmare when their child starts hanging around the wrong crowd. All those years of work trying to teach the differences between right and wrong and how to respect others can go out the window when they start trying to impress their "bad" friends.

A child afflicted with a major illness or sustaining a major injury is a parent's worst nightmare. Not only will you be faced with fulfilling their physical needs, but you'll also need to find ways to explain the situation to them in terms they can understand. But this doesn't have to be something you go through alone.