In the summer of my 11th year of life, I learned the power and joy of surrender. It happened in Minnesota at the Edina community swimming pool high dive. For five summers I had watched—in admiration and terror—the big kids climb 35 steps into thin air, walk a long concrete diving board, and then jump into the cool water below. For a few agonizing seconds they disappeared in the deep end ...

A recent study by Harris Interactive found that most adults who have children under 18 share a meal together several times a week:

• Forty-seven percent share 5–6 meals together as a family.
  
  
• Twenty-eight percent share 7 or more meals.
  
  
• Fourteen percent share 3–4 meals.
  
  
• Eight percent share 1–2 meals.
  
  
• Three percent never share a meal together as a family.
  
  

Research collected by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics shows boys have improved socially and academically over the last two decades:

• The percentage of boys who graduate from high school has increased 4 percent.

• The percentage of boys who attend college immediately after graduation has increased 3 percent.

• ...

Facing the Giants is about the faith of a high school football coach and how he uses biblical principles to motivate and inspire his team to play winning football while honoring God.

In this scene, Matt Prater, a high school student, has just accepted Christ. Coach Taylor gives him a hug.

"I need to talk with my dad," Matt says. "I'd like to go see him."

...

Matt's father is in a meeting with another ...

The United States doesn't always come in first place. UNICEF surveyed 21 of the most developed nations and measured how kids related to other kids, spent time with parents, used alcohol and/or drugs, and perceived their own happiness. Tight-knit nations—like Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Finland—ranked the highest when it came to young people feeling secure and happy. The U.S. ...

A father passed by his son's bedroom and was astonished to see the bed nicely made up and everything neat and tidy. Then he saw an envelope propped up on the pillow. It was addressed, "Dad." With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I ...

Stefania Fraccalvieri now knows that tongue piercing costs a lot more than expected. Just after she had a metal stud put through her tongue—a popular fashion trend among teenagers—Stefania began to experience sharp, stabbing pains in her face that lasted up to half a minute, 20-30 times a day. Doctors soon diagnosed her with trigeminal neuralgia, a condition more commonly known as "suicide ...

On the whole, siblings pass on dangerous habits to one another in a depressingly predictable way. A girl with an older, pregnant teenage sister is four to six times as likely to become a teen mom herself, says Patricia East, a developmental psychologist at the University of California, San Diego.

The same pattern holds for substance abuse. According to a paper published in the Journal of Drug Issues ...

Teens aged 12–17 who admitted using marijuana…
In 2005: 6.8 percent
In 2002: 8.2 percent

The overall use of illicit drugs…
In 2005: 9.9 percent
In 2002: 11.6 percent

The use of tobacco…
In 2005: 10.8 percent
In 2002: 13 percent

...

While their peers may be carousing and into all kinds of trouble, a new movement of teenagers is defying the trends of their generation. These teens are combating ignorance, rebellion, and apathy with the latest in modern technology: the blog.

Twin brothers Alex and Brett Harris, 17, created their blog (therebelution.com) in order to debunk the "myth of adolescence"—that being a teenager means ...