7 Things Your Teenager Won't Tell You: And How to Talk About Them Anyway

One of Mother Nature's cruelest tricks is to lock mothers who are marching toward menopause in the same house with teenagers who are fighting for independence. But finally I found a book that actually helped the hormonally-challenged generations in our house come to some important agreements. I have read dozens of books on raising teenagers, but this is the ONLY ONE that has captured the attention of every member of our family. It's well-researched and fun, but most importantly, it offers 3 simple rules--Stay Safe, Show Respect, Keep in Touch--that our teenagers agree they can follow!! And when they slip up, it offers reasonable consequences that even they can swallow. READ THIS BOOK AND THEN LEAVE IT OUT WHERE YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS CAN FLIP THROUGH IT. I am not exaggerating when I say that it will change the way you and your teens interact.

I am so impressed with the overall usefulness of this instruction manual for healthy interaction with teenagers. The sample conversations are never cutesy or forced but imminently practical and relevant. Lippincott and Deutsch have done a terrific job packing a ton of valuable content into a book accessible for busy parents and educators. The writing is clever and the content substantial. In addition to the impressive group of endorsers already praising the book from Elkind to Poussaint, I feel any expert in the field of adolescence will want to know about this one. Don't let the book's trendy appearance deceive you; this is a work of substance that should be around to help people for a very long time. I particularly appreciated the clarity and fairness of the "Rules of Play" the authors propose as the basis for productive interaction between teens and parents. Unlike so many approaches, these rules of play promote effective communication rather than taking sides. This objective approach may frustrate teens with a rotten agenda as much as adults with a self-righteous one, but, if followed, will result in safety for kids and balance for parents. What an accomplishment!

Terrific. I married into a family with a teenage stepdaughter. I had no children before that. This book has quickly become my most trusted companion. Just being able to refer back to the three rules - stay safe, keep in touch, and show respect - with my daughter has given both of us a firm place to work from. It's an enormous help in my dealings with her version of the truth, my too frequent need to control her, her good and bad friends and what she does with them, and keeping respect for the house, family and each other. Wow. Indispensable.

This book is something really special -- it took my breath away with its keen insights, new analyses, and helpful suggestions for every parent of every adolescent. In brief, the substance is outstanding. I've parented my 3.5 children through adolescence (one is only half-way there), and I promise that what this offers readers is truly helpful . . . brilliant actually, and that the methods suggested will truly work. The writing is clear and direct, funny, reasonable, and chock-o-block with legitimate examples of situations and genuine dialogue. The authors have created a new approach to an age-old problem, one that every parent faces, and for which most parents have sought some guidance. My own little home library has quite a section devoted to adolescents, like "How to talk so your teenager will listen," and "The angry teenager," and a few others with "teen" or "adolescent" in the title. This is the best book I've read, by far.