As a mom of a 6-year-old and 3-year-old, you might be wondering why I’m reviewing a book about parenting teens. After all, don’t I have enough to deal with today like toys all over the house and potty training?
Well, YES! However, while my kids are still years away from the teen years, I’m still curious about what issues parents are facing with their teenagers now, considering how much things have changed since I was a teen in the 90’s.
Seriously – Facebook, smartphones, and even digital cameras didn’t exist when I was a teen. Sheesh, I remember when CDs, caller ID, and giant cell phones first came out! I didn’t even use the Internet until I was in college.
Back then it was harder to share the daily details of your life with anyone else but those closest to you. But so much is different now, though of course, many of the core issues remain (drugs, sex, money) but in new ways.
A Survival Guide to Parenting Teens: Talking to Your Kids About Sexting, Drinking, Drugs, and Other Things That Freak You Out by Joani Geltman, MSW, is a valuable guidebook filled with humor and advice that all parents should read, regardless of how old their kids are.It’s organized into 10 sections and covers 80 topics from smartphones (Joani advises not to let your teen have one) to new social media sites to teens talking back to “the bad seed friend” and so many more that tend to freak a lot of parents out!
This is an ideal guidebook for busy parents (who isn’t?) as each chapter is cleverly titled by the issue, so it’s not a book that needs to be read cover-to-cover…it can be easily opened up to whatever issue you’re facing! And I love how simply she organizes each chapter: First she breaks down each issue by starting with “Here’s the Problem,” then “Why It’s a Problem” (to help you understand what’s going on), and ending with “Here’s the Solution.”
As a mom I have found this book amazingly eye-opening and helpful to prepare for that stage in our lives. Like chapter 63: “Icky New Social Networking Sites…Beware!” Did you know about websites like Omegle,com, Chatroulette,com, or Ask.fm? Imagine your teen talking (& possibly more) via their computer with complete strangers or anonymously criticizing or bullying someone. It’s amazing what teen-targeting sites exist out there!
I recommend A Survival Guide to Parenting Teens as it’s full of so much down-to-earth advice for all parents, and is so informative for parents with pre-teens to help them better prepare for and understand their child’s development.
About the author:
Joani Geltman, MSW, parenting expert and author of this recently released book, has experience as a psychology professor, school counselor and parenting coach, and even raising her own famous teen – Ari Graynor, who has starred in the CBS Television Series, Bad Teacher. In fact, Ari wrote the foreword for the book, humbly acknowledging how much she learned from her mom and how it shaped who she is today.
Buy It:
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(Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of A Survival Guide to Parenting Teens to facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% mine.)
With two teenage boys ( and a toddler at home), we sure could use some help. My one son has ADHD/ODD and is driving us crazy! Would love to learn some other ideas that may help. Thanks!
There is some great advice to be found in this book. I would also highly recommend Parents in Highschooland by Karyn Rashoff as one of the finest books on high school parenting out there.Karyn Rashoff couldn’t be more qualified with her 33 years guidance counselor experience so her ideas and suggestions carry a lot of weight.
Raised two kids through teen years and just started with number three. I don’t want to muck it up so much this time around! Toughest job ever .