Parenting Teens

As the parent of a 14-year-old girl, I often feel hapless in knowing how best to respond to her strong emotions. Our relationship has changed so much since she was a little girl - sometimes it seems like we don't communicate except to argue, and even though I know it's biologically appropriate, there is a feeling of loss as she increasingly distances herself from our family and spends so much time alone in her room. Facing down the prospect of a school year spent guiding her through her online education intimidates me! At the same time, I vividly remember all of the strong emotions and rapid changes of adolescence myself. If you're also hoping to learn how to better understand your teenager's brain and how to parent them effectively, try some of these titles. Print books are listed here, but many of these tiles are also available in other formats such as e-book and e-audio.

The teenage brain : a neuroscientist's survival guide to raising adolescents and young adults

Frances E. Jensen

612.82 /Jensen
Science

"Jensen [examines] the brains of teenagers, dispelling myths and offering practical advice for teens, parents, and teachers"--

Inventing ourselves : the secret life of the teenage brain

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

612.82 /Blakemore
Science

Describes the transformations that take place in the human brain during adolescence, especially in the prefrontal cortex, which governs decision-making, planning, inhibiting inappropriate behavior, evaluating risk, and understanding others.

Grown and flown : how to support your teen, stay close as a family, and raise independent adults

Lisa Heffernan

649.125 /Heffernan
Self Help

Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington are here to help. While seeing their own kids through this transition, they realized they needed some support. Thats why they founded Grown and Flown, an online community for parents of teens. And it turns out they werent the only ones looking for advice for how to parent through the teenage years. The Grown and Flown community has become a top resource for curated content from experts, related stories of shared experiences, and tried and true advice and tips. And now, for the first time, Lisa and Mary Dell have gathered key takeaways on the most important subjects to form this essential guide.

Reviving Ophelia : saving the selves of adolescent girls

Mary Bray Pipher

305.2352 /Pipher
Science

"In 1994, Reviving Ophelia was published, and it shone a much-needed spotlight on the problems faced by adolescent girls. The book became iconic and helped to reframe the national conversation about what author Mary Pipher called "a girl-poisoning culture" surrounding adolescents. Fast forward to today, and adolescent girls and the parents, teachers, and counselors who care about them find themselves confronting many of the same challenges Pipher wrote about originally as well as new ones specific to today. In this revised and updated Reviving Ophelia, Pipher and her daughter, Sara Pipher Gilliam (who was a teenager at the time of the book's original publication), have incorporated these new issues for a 21st-century readership. In addition to examining the impact that social media has on adolescent girls' lives today, Pipher and Gilliam explore the rising and empowering importance of student activism in girls' lives, the wider acceptance of diverse communities among young people, and the growing disparities between urban and rural, rich and poor, and how they can affect young girls' sense of self-worth. With a new foreword and afterword and chapters that explore these topics, this new edition of Reviving Ophelia builds on the relevance of the original as it provides key insights into the challenges and opportunities facing adolescent girls today. The approach Pipher and Gilliam take in the new edition is just what it was in the original: a timely, readable combination of insightful research and real-world examples that illuminate the challenges young women face and the ways to address them. This updated Reviving Ophelia looks at 21st century adolescent girls through fresh eyes, with insights and ideas that will help new generations of readers." --

A new theory of teenagers : seven transformational strategies to empower you and your teen

Christa Santangelo

649.125 /Santangelo
Science, Self Help

"A guide for families to thrive in the midst of the tumultuous teen years--and the culmination of the author's twenty-five years of experience in both conventional psychology and alternative methods" -- Amazon.com.

Help your kids with adolescence : a no-nonsense guide to puberty and the teenage years.

649.125 /Help
Self Help

Presents a guide to helping parents and children survive and thrive through the teenage years, covering such topics as emotional well-being, physical changes, online safety, family dynamics, relationships, and sexuality.

Untangled : guiding teenage girls through the seven transitions into adulthood

Lisa Damour

305.2352 /Damour
Science, Self Help

"Lisa Damour, Ph.D., director of the internationally renowned Laurel School's Center for Research on Girls, pulls back the curtain on the teenage years and shows why your daughter's erratic and confusing behavior is actually healthy, necessary, and natural. Untangled explains what's going on, prepares parents for what's to come, and lets them know when it's time to worry,"--Amazon.com.

The 5 love languages of teenagers

Gary D. Chapman

649.125 /Chapman
Self Help

Starting with the world in which your teenager livers, Dr. Chapman walks through the emotional needs of teenagers and how you can best express your love to them.

Decoding boys : new science behind the subtle art of raising sons

Cara Familian Natterson

649.132 /Natterson
Science

"What is my son doing behind his constantly closed door? What's with his curt responses, impulsiveness, newfound obsession with gaming, and...that funky smell? As pediatrician and mother of two teenagers Cara Natterson explains, puberty starts in boys long before any visible signs appear, which causes confusion about their changing temperaments for boys and their parents alike. Often, they also grow quieter as they grow taller, which leads to less parent-child communication. But, as Natterson warns, we respect their increasing "need" for privacy and alone time at their peril. Explaining how modern culture mixes badly with male adolescent biology, she offers science, strategies, scripts, and tips for getting it right"--