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OMMENTARY
From‘me time’to no time
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with freoh and engaging information
about life in their communities.
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Brookhaven Reporter I Buckhead Reporter
Dunwoody Reporter I Sandy Springs Reporter
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CONTACT US
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Editor’s note: It’s time for kids to head back to school, a time
that can be as stressful for parents as it is for students. We asked
high school guidance counselor Sara Eden for some advice to share
with parents as the school year begins.
As a parent, you may be contemplating the upcoming
school year with mixed emotions.
Maybe you are ready for some healthy time apart from
your child. Perhaps you are mourning the loss of free time as
a family. You may feel anxious when you think about getting
back into carpools and the flurry of afternoon activities that
come with the school year.
So, my first bit of advice is to empathize with your child.
Our kids are feeling the same range of emotions, more in
tensely, and have less experience managing them.
It’s natural to struggle with transitions, so tolerate some
ambivalence from your child about the new school year. If
your child doesn’t “hit the ground running,” there is no need
to jump to conclusions based on behaviors you see in the first
couple weeks of school. Give him or her (and yourselves!) a lit
tle time to adjust.
That being said, as parents, you can help ease your child
back into a routine. For many children, though they resist at
first, the structure of the school year is comfortable for them.
So whether it’s family dinners or earlier bedtimes, start try
ing to integrate some of the school year routine back into your
children’s lives. Depending on your child, you may be able to
exert some influence over his or her bedtime to help with the
adjustment. However, with a lot of teens, you may have to
watch them walk zombie-like out of the house during those
first couple of weeks until they self-impose an earlier bedtime.
Parents can help children realize that they need the healthy
meals at home, and more consistent exercise and sleeping hab
its that come with the school year to perform their best and to
combat any stress they may face.
As a parent, you may feel the need to have a conversation
with your child about his or her
goals for the upcoming year. In the
workplace, a goal-setting conversa
tion may serve to motivate and fo
cus an employee, but the majority
of teenagers will shut down as soon
as they hear “So, what are your
goals for this year?” Instead, ini
tiate informal conversations with
your children about what they are
looking forward to in all areas of
school life: academic, social and ex
tracurricular.
Reconnecting with friends is a
huge motivator for teens as they
contemplate going back to school.
Help your children focus on the positive aspects of the new
year: new opportunities to get involved, new privileges, new
friends. Reassure them that you are there to help if help is
needed. Above all else, leave your agenda for your child’s
school year out of the conversation, and focus on his or her
thoughts and concerns.
Getting kids excited or motivated to go back to school is a
tough job for a parent. I would argue that it is almost impos
sible, as motivation really can’t be given. Instead, help your
children embrace the responsibility of being a student. Be tol
erant of their mixed emotions and behaviors as the new year
begins, establish healthy routines, and emphasize the positive
aspects of school life.
Ultimately, you are in this together, working your way
through one of life’s many transitions, and your modeling and
guidance will help your child face future life changes down the
road. Good luck, and welcome back to school!
Sara Eden is a licensed clinical social worker and the upper
school guidance counselor at Pace Academy.
SARA
EDEN
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Reporter Newspapers or Springs Publishing, LLC.
Watch out for
‘easement abuse 1
To the editor:
I urge everyone whose property
abuts a main road to pull your proper
ty closing file, pull out the plat and check
the easement on the drawing. Many ease
ments in Dunwoody are 40 feet from the
center line of any main road that abuts
your property.
The approval of the Mount Vernon/
Vermack roads intersection re-do gives us
some idea how much property is being
taken from property owners to accom
plish this.
Property owners have been told by the
city that the easement is 50 feet from the
center line of Mount Vernon Road, and
the city is taking the full 50 feet without
compensating the homeowners. That
makes the total easement for Mount Ver
non Road 100 feet across, and takes up to
20 percent of the homeowner’s property
LETTER TO
THE EDITOR
E-mail letters to
editor@reporternewspapers.net
on each side.
The current two-lane road is 25 feet
wide. Adding a third lane should bring
it to 37 feet. Adding bike lanes and side
walks should add another 20 feet and
bring it to 57 feet. The extra 43 feet seems
like abuse.
The damage to Dunwoody proper
ty values should not go unnoticed. If
your home abuts Mount Vernon Road or
Chamblee Dunwoody Road and we are
able to get the city to pull back its land
grab to remove this easement taking,
those homeowners will only lose 16 feet
of their yards rather than 37.5 feet of their
yards.
If city-planned widening spreads to
other roads the city deems to be main
roads, the same numbers apply to many
other residential areas. If real estate agents
allow this eminent domain abuse to pre
vail, they will need to warn potential buy
ers of what’s coming.
Georgia law requires a 25-foot stream
buffer, but Dunwoody has opted to in
crease this to 75 feet. Please note the 75-
foot stream buffer now required by the
city only needs to be 25 feet under state
law that trumps any minimum sugges
tions made by the Metropolitan North
Georgia Water Planning District.
The city also wants to put more 12-
foot, concrete multi-use trails on ease
ments. If these homeowners also have a
75-foot stream buffer in their yard, where
will they put the house?
After all of this is done, homeowners
will lose the use of their property and will
not be allowed to reduce their property
tax to reflect the loss in land and proper
ty value. Will the Georgia Legislature take
action to remove this easement abuse?
Norb Leahy
Do you have something to say? Sendyourletterstoeditor@reporternewspapers.net
6 | AUG.9—AUG.22,2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
